arte Introduction: Poetics vs. Aesthetics ?ors croye ‘The main topic ofthe essays thatare includedin this books ar-Inthe periadof modemity—the perioginwnien we stil ve-—any siecourse on artis almost automaticaly subsumed under the general notion of aesthetics, Sine Kant’ Critique of Jude Int in 1780, itbecame extremely dificult for any- ‘one writingaboutart to escape the great tradition ‘of aesthetic reftection-—and escape being judged ‘according tate orteria and expectations formed by this adition. This is precisely tne task that pursue inthese assaye:t0 write onartinanon-aosthetic way This does not mean that Went develop Something an“antiaesthetice; because every antiaestheticsIsobviously merely a more specific formof aesthetics. Rather my essays aveid the aesthetic attitude altogether nll ts variation. Inatead they aro writtan from another perspective: that of postics. But before trying to charecterize ‘this other perspective in more cetal, would koto fxplain why Rend to avoid tho traditional aesthatic stttude The aesthetic attitude ie the epectator artitude. As a philosophical tradition anduniversity Aispline,aestnoticerelates to at and reflects the consumer ofart~—who demands rom tthe so-called avsthetc experience. Atleast since Kant ‘woknow thatthe aesthetic expariance can bean experience of beauty or ofthe sublime Itcan be an ‘experience of sensual pleasure. But tcan also be fan-ant-aesthetic" experience of displeasure, of frustration provoked by an artwork that acks all the ‘Walitie that “affirmative” aesthetics expactsitto have. [tean be an experience of viopian vision that leads humankind outofits present condition to new society in which beauty reigns o,in somewhat diferent terms, tean redistribute the sensibleina way thatrofigures the spectator’ Feld of vision by ‘Showing cartain things and giving aovess to certa ‘voices that wer caller concealed er obscured. But itcanalso demonstrate the impoesitilty of provid- ing postive aesthetic axperiencesin the midst of fotiety based on opprnetion and exploitation on @ {otal commercializaten and commodification of art that Fram te beginning, undermines the possi) of utopian perspective. As we know, bothof these Seemingly contradictery aesthetic experiences an proude equal asthetic enjoyment. However, Inorder to experience anthatic enjoyment of any kind, the spectator mist be aesthetically educated, and this education necessarily reftacts the social Sind cultural miliaus eto vnich the spectator was born andi which hear she ives. nother words, the esthetic attitude presupposes te subordination of art production to ar consumption—andthus the subordination af at theory to sociology. Indeed, rom anaesthetic point of view, the artist isa supplier of aesthetic experiences, includ ing thse produced withthe intention of frustrating Crmeditying the viewers aesthetic sensibility. The subject the aesthete attitude isa master, while {thoartictisaervane 9 soures, ae Hegel oman strates the servant ean, and does, manipulate the ‘mactar but the servant nonetheless remains the sorvant An ths tuationchangod lite when the artist camato serve the greater pubic rather than the regime of patronagorapresentod by the church ortractiona autocrate poware. At that time the artist was obliged te present the “contants”—the Subjects, motives, nratives, and eo forth—that wore dictated by religious faith or the interests of ‘the paltical power Tocay, the artiste required to dal with topics pubic interest. Todays demo ‘ratie public wants to tinin atthe representationsean ofthe ieeues, topes, plitiealcontroversiae, and S2cialaspiratone that move ths public inite overy= {ay life. Tho politicization of artis often seon as the antidote toa purely aesthetic attitude that allegedly requires arto be merely beautiful. Buin fact, this politicization of artean be easly combined with its festhoticlzation—insofar as both are sean from the perspective ofthe spectator of tha consumer Clement Greenberg remarked tat an artists free fandapable demonstrating hisorher mastery ‘ana tasteprocisty when the content of theartwork Is prescribed tothe artist by an external authority. ‘Boing berated from the question of what todo, the list can then concentrate onthe purely formal Side of art,on the question of how todo it—that Is,how to doit in sucha way thatits contents ‘become attractive and appealing or unattractive {and epulsve) tothe aesthetic sensibility ofthe ‘ube Ifthe pliticization of artis thus interpreted ‘38 making certain politcal atitudes attractive (or Uunattractive) tothe pubic, asis usually the case, the politicization af art comes tobe completely sub- jected tothe aesthetic attitude. Andin the end the {oal becomes to package political contants nen osthotcaly acractive form. But, ofcourse, throu ‘an act of real political engagement the aesthetic form ees ite relevance and can be discarsea Inthe namoaf direst poiteal practice. Hore art functions asa political advertisement that becom ‘superfuous when itachives its geal. Thisis only ane of many examples of how ‘the aosthetic attitude becames prablamatic when applied tothe arts, Andin fact, the aesthetic. attitude does not need at, and it unctions much better without Iti often save that all the wonder ‘of art plein comparison to the wonders of nature Interms of esthetic experience, no work of artcan stand comparison toevon an average beautiful sun- ‘set And, ofcourse, the sublime sige of nature and politics canbe fully experienced only by witnessing ‘real natural catastmphe,revoltion, or ar not bbyreading s novel orleoking ata picture. Infact, this was the charod opinion of Kant andthe mantic posts and artiste that launched tha fist influential esthetic dlacourees:the ral werd the legit, mate object ofthe aesthetic attitude (ae wall a of scientific and ethicalatitudes)—notar. Accord- Ingto Kant, rt ean become alagitimate object ‘faesthetic contemplation ony its created by ‘agenius—understood asa human embodiment ‘of natural force. Professional art can only aerve asameans of educaton innctonsof tasteand ‘esthetic judgment. After tis education scom- pleted, artean be asWittgensteit's adder, thrown ‘58/10 confront the subject with the aesthotic ‘experience of ifeltslt Seen from the aesthetic perspective, art reves tee as something that tan, and should be, overcame. Allthings can be seen from anaesthetic perspectve;al tings can serve as sources of aesthetic experience and become objects ofaesthatic judgment, From the perspective ‘of aesthetics, art nano privged position Rather, artcomes between te subjectof the aesthetic, atitude and the world. A grown person has ne need forar'saoathetc tutviage, and ean simply rely on one's own sensibility and test, Aesthetic discourse, ‘shen used to egtimice art effectively serves to Underminoit. Butthen how doo explain the dominance of aesthaticaiecourae throughout the period of ‘modernity? The main eaeon forthat le statist ‘alas avsthetic reflection on art bogan anc was later developed in thoeightaenth and ninctoonth centuries, te artists ware in the minortyandtheIntron: Poole. Aesthetics Baise spectatora werein tha majority The que fone should make at seemed relevant, Simply made artto carn alving. And this wae agut- ficient explanation forth exstance ofan The real ‘quostion concerned why other people should iookat {And the anewor to thie was: art would form the! taste and develop their aesthetic sensibility—art fsa schooling of the gaze and thecther senses. The {duision between artists anc spectators seemed clesr-cutand socially established: epactatars were {he subjects of aesthetic attitude, and artworks produced by artists were objects of aestntic ontemplatin, Bt at least since the Deginning of the twentieth century this simple dienotomy Began tocollapse. And the essays that follow describe dif= ferent aspects of thischange. Amongthese changes was the emergence and rapid development of visual ‘mecia tat, throughout the twentieth centu {transformed avast numberof people into chjects of surveillance, attention, and contemplationtos gree that was unthinkable at anyother periodof human history At the same time, these visual media, Became the ew agors fr an international publi, land, especially frpoltea discussions. ‘he paticat giecuesione that took place in the ancient Greek agora presupposed the immedi- te lving presence and vsiiliy of the participant, ‘oday.eazh porzon must establish hie or herown image nthe contoxt of viaual media. Anditisnat nly inthe popular virtual orld of Second Life that ‘one creates avirtual “avatar vith which te communicate and act. Thefirst Hf” ‘of contemporary mecia functions nthe same way. Anyone who wants to go public, o begin to actin today’ international poltical agora must create an Individualized public persona—and thisisnotonly ‘alevantto politcal anaoutural 08, Te raletaty 5) access to digitalphato and vdeo cameras Combined with te gebal cstibution platform of {the intornet has itera the trastional statstcal relationship betweanimage produeers and image Consumers. Today, mere people are Interested in Image production than image contemplation Under those nen conditions, tne aesthetic attitude obviously looses its former relevance in tion ase disinterested one, foriteeubject was not concerned with tr existence ofthe abject of ‘contemplation Infac:,ashas been mentioned, the aosthoticattitude natonly accepts the non-exs- tence ofits object, butt this abject isan artwork, itactually prsuppose its eventual disappearance, Honver, the preducer of one's ann ndivcual |20d pubic persone iscbviousy interested inite ‘iotenoe-and in teability to further eubstitte this producer's “natural,” biological body. Teday is not only professional ariet, butall of us who must learn to lveina stateat media exposure by produc ingarificial personae doubles, or avatars with | Goublepurpase—tosituate ourelvee in visual ‘media and conceal ou biological bodies from the ‘medias gaze. leis cleerthat such a public persons annot be the work of unconscious, quasi-naturet forces inthe human baing—kein the ease of Kan- tian genius, Rather, ithas todo with certain techni- calandpottical decisions for which their subject fan be made ethicallyand politically responsible. The ptiticalsimensien af art thus precedes ts production-the politics of art has fo do less with Its impact onthe spectator than with the decisions that lead toits emergence in the frst place. “This means that contemporary art should be analyzed notin termsof aesthetics, butratherin {ermsof poetics. Not rom the perspective of theart‘consumer, but fram that ofthe art producer Infact ‘hore isa much longer raition of understanding fre. poisie or techné than as aisthesis rin terms of hermeneutics. The shift fram a poetic, technical Understanding af art to aethetie or ermeneuti- calanalyee was olatively recent, and tis now timota reverse thischange n perspective Infact, ‘this revorsal was already started by the historical avant-garde—by artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Hugo Bal,oF Marcel Ductamp, ‘who crested mecia narratives in which they acted ‘as public personas using press aticl ‘writing, performance, andimage product samelevelof elevance. Being seen and judged from an aesthetic perspective, their work was ‘mostly interpreted as an artistic reaction tothe Industrial Revolution andthe political turmolof the time, Ofcourse this interpretation i ogtimate; however seems even more lgitimate to gee the aisle practice as a radical turn om aosthetice ta poctics—morespectficallyto autopeeties, tothe reduction of one's own publi at ‘Obviously. those artists did not soek to pleaoe the publ, to eatify ite aesthetic ceires. Butnorther did tie wrant-yatde atists want to shock the publi, to produce dapleasing images of blime. nour culture, the nation of shocks ‘connected primarily to images of violence and sexu alty But neither Malevich's Block Square (1818), Huge Bale sound poems, or Duchamp's Anemic Cineme (1928) presented vioieneeor sexuality in any oxplit way. These avant-garde artists also did ‘ot break ary taboos, as thre never vasa taboo forbicting squares or monotonously rotating disks [And they didnot surprise because squares and disks areunsurprising. instead, they demonstrated ‘the minimal conditions for producing an effect ofvisibilty—on an almost zeo-leval of frm and ‘meaning Their worksarevsibleembodiments of nothingness,ox equa lof pure subjectivity. And inthis senge they arepurely autopoetic works, ranting visible form toa subjectivity that has been ‘emptied out, purified af any spectficcontent. The avant-garde thamatization of nothingness and nogativity is thereforenat a sign of nilism® ora protastagainet the “nullification” af ife under ‘theconaitions of industria capitalism They a simply sjgnsof anew atort—of an artiticmetanoie that leads the artist om an intoret inthe externa wort the autopoetc construction of his or her wn salt. “Today, this eutovoetie practice can be easily Interpreted asa kind cf commatcial image prague tion, as brand development or trendsatting There Isno doubt that any pelie personae also com: ody. an that avr geste tomar gig pb eres the interests ofnumerous profes Potential sharolderArcitselcocleerthat the fvant-garde artists themseives became euch com- ‘morcial brands lang ago. Following ts ine of argu ‘ment, it becomes eas3 to perceive any autopoetie festure asa gesture self-commoaitication—and Tothen launch a etique of autopostc practice as ‘cover operation designed to conceal the pretago~ Nist’s social ambitions an wst for profit, ut while IW critique appears ersuasive at fist glance, nother question arises What purpose does tris sitiqueiteet serve? ‘There sno doutt that nthe contextof a ‘ontemporery civilization more or less completely dominated bythe market, everything canbe inte rote as an efoctof market forces in ane way or finother For this reason, the value of such an inter ion of everything rotationis nul foranenplanatrotucion Petco ve Aestetion i emains unable to exolain anything in particular ine autopoesis cen be used-—and is used—as a means of sett-commosificatio, the search for pri- vate interests behind every public personameans ta project the actual realities of capitalism end the fart market beyond thelr historical borders. Art was ‘made before the amergence of capitelism and the frtmarket,and will be made after they dlsappear. ‘rt was also made during the modern erain places ‘that werenot capitalist and had no art market, auch ‘a the eocielist countries. This isto say thatevery fctof making art stays ne taditionthatie not ‘totally defined by the art markot—and, accordingly, Cannot by explained exelusivalyintorme of cri fique ofthe market and of capitalist art institutions. Hero, further question arises concerning the value of secllogical analysis nar theory ingeneral Sociological analysis considers any Conerate arta emerging out ofa certain concrete prosentor past aoclalcontest—and as manifest- Ingthis context ut this understanding of arthas never truly aoeepted the madera tua from mimetic fonon-mimetie,constructivist at. Sociological Linalysia still aces art asthe reflection of acertain pre-gwvonrvalty—-namalyoftherea” sacil flu in which tis arts produced and distributed. However arteannot be completely explained asa ‘manifestation of rea culturatand social milieus, Decaue the mills In which artworks emerge and Croulate ae alsoatifiial. They consis of artist! tally created public personas~which, according, are thomeelves artistic creations. Real soclties consist of rel tving people. And, accordingy the subjects ofan aesthetic at {ude must also be real ving people capable ofhav4 ingreal. ving eesthetic experiences Indeed, iti in this sense thatthe aesthetic attitude culminates Inthe sociological understanding ofr. Butt one looks at art trom the posi technical, autherat postion, the eituationnanges drastically because, {swe al know the autnar is nays already dead — brat east ansent. As znimage producer, one oper tos in amecia space nwhiontnareisnocleat Aitforence between ting and dead—because living tnd dead alike are representec by equally artificial. personas. For example, artworks produced by v= Ing anists and arworks pronuced oy dead artists ‘outinolyshare the sane museum spaces—and themuseums historealty the ist artifilally ‘constructed contest rar. The same can be said bout the internet as espace that also does not Cleary difterentiate between ving and dead. On the lather hang, artists often reject the society oftheir living contomporaries,aswell as the acceptance of museum or media systems, preferring instead toproject their personas into the imaginary world ofthe yet unborn. Anditio inthis genge thatthe art imilou represants an ecpanded notion of society, because itineludes net only the Wing,but algo the \jead-—a@ wellas the unborn. Ang thate the actual reason for alltho inadequacies in tho eociclogical thaljes uf wt sucioiyy ia seierce the ing, With aninetinetiveproterence fr tholiving over the dead. On the contrary, however art constitutes a ‘modern way te evercone thipreterence by estab lishing equality between the lvingandthe dea.eight y i ‘The Obligation to Self-Design‘The Oblson oA Oesig Design, 22 we knawit today, ea twentlath-century phenomenon. Admittedly, concern forthe appear nce ofthingsis nat new Allcultures havebeen Concerned with makingclothes, everyday objects, Interiors cf various spaces, whether sacred spaces, paces of poner, or private spaces, "beautiful and Impressive” ‘Thehistory ofthe applied artsis indeod tong, Yet modern design emerges precisely trom the revolt against the tradition ofthe applied arts. Ever ‘more so nan the transition rom aitional arto modernist ar, the transition frm the traditional ‘applies arts to modern dasign marked a break with ‘traction, aradical paradigm shift. This paradigm shit however usually overlooked. The function ‘esignhas often enough been described using the ‘old metaphysical opposition between appearence. land essence, Design in thi view, is responsible ‘nly forthe appearance of thinge, and thus it seem predestined to conceal the essence af things, to Seceive the viewer’ underetanding of the tue ‘ature of reality Thus design hae been repeatedly Interpreted a an epiphany ofthe omniprecont ‘market, of exchango value, of fetishism ofthe Commetlty of de sevety uf Une spectacles the ‘creation ofa seductive surface behind which thing ‘themeolves not only besame invisible, but deap pear entirely. Modern design asit emerged at the beginnt of tha twentieth century internalized this ctique, aimed atthe traditional applieg arts and setitsei ‘the task of revealing the hidden essence of things rathorthan designing heir surfaces. Avant-garde {design sought te eliminate and purfyallthat ha ‘accumulated onthe surface of things through the practice of theappiodarts over centuries inorder oxpose thetrve, undesigned nature of things. Modorn dosign thus dé not see ite task a erating the surface, butrathoras eliminating tas noga ive design, antigosign, Genuine modern design's Feductonist:itdoes net ada t subtracts Itia na longer about simply designing individual things to bo offered tothe gezac viewers and coneumers in jder to seduce thom. Rather, design seeks to shape the gaze of ewersin such away that they become ‘apabio of discoveringthings themselves A central ature ofthe paradigm shift from traditional, applies artsto mogerndesign was just is exten= son of the willo desiga from the wore ofthings to thatofhurran beings themselves—understood as, tne tingamong many.The risa of modern design Inprofoundly inkes tothe project ofreeclgning th-ola man nto the New Man, Thisproject, which merged at the beginningof the twentieth century nd is often dismissed today as utopian,has never Feally been abandoneddefacto. In a modified, fommercialized form, this project continues to have tn fect, and ts inialutopian potentiat hes been Updated repeatedly, The design of things that pres ‘nt themselves tothe gaze of the viewing subjects tical to an underatanding of design Te ultimate lormot design's, nowerer toesign ofthe su ect-Tho probleme of design are only adequately nddrosced ifthe cubjoctis asked how itwants to nan fast tae what form t wante to give tae, and howit wants to present tet otho gaze of the Other This question was first raiced with appropri= culty inthe early twentieth certury—aftor Nietzsche diagnosed God's doath.Aslongae God as alive, the dosign ofthe soul waa mare important o people than the design of the ody. The human body along with ts envronment,was understood romthe perspectivecttaitn as an acter shel that: : a : : ono ‘eoneoais the soul. Gos was thought tobe the only Wiowor ofthe soul. To him the ethically correct, ig to0us soul was supposed lok beautiful —thet ‘simple, vansparont, well constructed, propor- tional, and not astigure by any vices or marked byany worldly passion. tis aften overloowed that Inthe Christian vecttionathies has always been subordinated to avsthetics—thatis,to the design ‘ofthe soul Ethical rules, ke therulos ofspirtual ‘asceticism —of spinitual exercises, spiritual training —sarve above all the objective of designing the soul insucha way that it would be acceptable {Goes eyes, so that He would allow it into paradise. The design of one's own soul under God's gaze isa persistent theme of theological treatises, and ts Fules canbe visualized with the heip of medievat ‘depictions ofthe soul waiting forthe Last Jude ‘ment. The design ofthe sou, which was destined for God's eyes, was cleary distinct from the world ppiod arte: wheroas the applied arts sought rich ‘ess of mataale, complex omamentation.and ‘outward radiance, tne design ofthe oul focused of the essential, the pain, the natural, the reduced, and evon the ascetic. The revolution n design tat ook piace atte start ofthe tment conan best be characterized a0 the application ofthe ral forthe design ofthe eoul tothe design of worldly objects The death of God signifies the disappearans ofthe viewer of the soul, for whom te design was practiced for centuries. Thus the ste ofthe design Of the soul shifted. The soul bcamethe sum of the relationships into whien the human body int world entered. Previously, tha body was the prisen ofthe soul:now the soul became the clothingof body-—its socal, potical, and aesthetic appear- ance. Suddenly the only possible manifestation of the soul became the look of the clethas in which human beings appeared the everyday things with \thich they eurrounde thomeelvee, he epaces they Inhabited, With the death ef Goa, design Bocame the medium ofthe sou, the revelation ofthe subject hen insie the numan body. Thus design took (nanetnical dimension it had not hac previously. Indesign ethics becare aesthetics it became form, Where religion orce was, design has emerge Te mogern subject nan has anew obligation the obligation set-design, anaesthetic presentation fasothical subject. Maethicaly motivated polemic, fagainst design, launchd repeatedly over the course ofthe twentieth century nal formulatedin ethical find potical terms, eae only be understood on the basis ofthis new definition of design: euch a olemic would be entirely incongruous fdrected ft the traditional applied ats. Ada Loos famous 3y"Ornament and rime isan early example of thisturn From the outset,Loos postulated inhis essay unity etwoon the aesthetic and the ethical. loos condemned everydecoration every orna- Imont,a6. eign of depravity of vies, Love judged pores appearance, tothe extant represented Neoneciouelyceaigned exterior to bean immech ‘Mooxprossion of hsorherethica stance. For ‘xampie, ne believed he had demenetrated that Dniycriminal, primitives heathens, or dogener- stot ornament themseivesby tattooingthair akin. Drnament was thus an axpression either of amoral ltyoraf erime:"The Papuan covers his skin with {uttos, his boat, his oas,in snort evarything he far lay his hands on. He sno eriminal. The madaen person who tattoos hirseiseither a criminal ora Sogenerate." Particularystikingin his quotation Ivthe fact nat Loos makes no distinction between,tetooing onds own skin and decorating’ boat or ‘an car.Just as the modern human being is expected ‘to present him or herself tothe gaze ofthe Othe 2san honest, pain, unormamented,“undesigned” object, 20 should all the ather tings with which this person has to deal be presented as honest plain, ‘unornamented, undesigned things, ly en do they demonstrate thatthe soul of the person using ‘thems pure, virtuous, and unspoiled. According to Loos, the function of design is nat to pack decorate, and ornament tinge differently each time, thats, tocanstantly design aaupplementary outside so ‘that an inside, th true nature of things, remains hidden. Rathor,tho eal function of modern design isto prevent peope from wanting ta design things atall.Thus Loos describes hieattempts to convince. ‘shoemaker from whom he had ordered shoes not toornament them.*For Looe, twas enough thet the shoemaker use the best materlaleand work trem > ith care The quality of the material and the Ron- sty and precision ofthe work, and not ther exter fal appearance, determine the quality ofthe hoc ‘Thecriminalhingabout oramenting shoes a that this ormament does not reveal the shoemaker’ honesty thatie;the ethan! dimension af the shoes. ‘The ethically cissatistactor aspects ofthe product ‘are concealed by ornament and the ethically impec= cable are made unrecogn zable byt Fr toes thue design is the struggle against design—against the riminal wil to conceal the ethical essence of things behing their aesthetic surface. Yet paradoxically, nly the creation of anther revelatory ayer of ornament—that is, of design—guarantees the unity ofthe ethical and the aesthetic that Loos sought, ‘The messianic apocalyptic features ofthe Struggle against applied art that Loos was engaged inareunmistakable. For xample, Loos wrote"Do ot weep. Do you not ste the graatness of our age fesidee in our very inatlity ta ereate new omament? We have gone beyond ernamont, we have achieved. Pisin,undecorated simplicity. Behold, the time ie. fat hand,utilment avait us, Soon the atrets of the cities wil shine tke whita wall! Like Zion, the Holy City Heaven's captal Then fulfillment willbe ure: The struggle agains the appiedarte ie the final struggle before thw artval of God's Kingdom on arth, Loos wanted"o bring heaven down to ‘arth:he wante to see things es they are, without Drnament. Thus Loos wantes to appropriate the vine gaze. But not onl that, na wanted to make fveryone else capablest seeing the things as they ave revealed in God's gaz. Modern design wants the apocalypse now, the apocalypse that unveils things, strips them of ther ornament, and causes them to be seen as they tuly ara. Without this laim nat design manifests the ruth of things, it wouldbe impasse to understand many ofthe discussions among designer, artiste, and art theo‘ists over the course of the twenteth century Sucharrists and designers as DonaldJuddor architects such ss Horz0g & de Meuron to name oniya fen, do not ‘hg eaeveally wen thoy were tity thelr Siticts practices but rather ethically and in doing Sothey appeal to the treth of things ds such, The modern designer dees nt wait forthe apocalypse. toremovethe external shell of things and show ‘them to peopleas they ate The designer wants here and nowthe apocalyptiovsion that makes everyone ‘New Men. The body takes onthe frm ofthe 204, The saul Becomes the body Al hinge become hav nly. Heaven becomes exrthly, material Modernism becomes absolute Loos’ essays, fanously not an isolated phe- nomenon, Rather itreflsts tha maod ofthe entireartistic avant-garde of the twentieth century, which ‘oughta synthesis oar and ite This synthesis wa supposed tbe achieved by removing the things ‘that looked too arty both from art and fom life. Bot wore supposed toreach the zero point ofthe artist inorder te achieve a unity The conventionally artis ‘le was understood tobe the"human, all to human that obstructed the gaze from perceiving the true inner form of things. Hence vacitional painting was seen as something that prevents the gaze ofa “spectator from recognizingit as a combination of, shapes and celorson canvas, and shoes made int traditional way woro understood to beating that provonted tho gaze ofa consumer fom recognizing ‘te essonce, function and tue composition ofthe shoo. The gaze cf tha New Man had tobe freed of all ‘such abstictions by the foree of antgesign, Whereas Loose formulated his ergument Inrather bourgeois terms and wanted to reve thevalueot certain materials, crafeemanship, land individual honesty thewil toabsolvte design reached its ciimaxin Russian Conatructviem with Its"proletarian”dealaftne collective soul which is manifested in industrially organized work For ‘he Ruselan Conetructviesthe path tovirtuouy genuinely proletarian objects also passed through the ellmination of everything that was merely artistic. The Russian Constructivists called for the objects of everyday communis fe to show themseives as whet thoy are:as functional things whose forms serve only o make their ethics visible. Ethies,as understood here, was ven an adetional political dimension, since the collective soul had to be rganized politically inorder io act properly in accordancewith ethical terms. The cllactive soul ‘was manifestedin the political organization that ‘embraced both peopleand things The function of*preltarien” designate time, admitted, people spoke rathor of proletarian ar™—must therefore be to make ths total political organization Visible. Tho experience of the tober Revelation of 1817 was crucial for the Russian Constructivet, Thoy understood the revolution tobe a radical act of purifying society of every form of amnament:the finest example of modern design which eliminates iltradtional social customs, rituals, conventions, land forms af representtion in order forthe essence ofthe political organization to emerge. Thus the Russian Constructivists called forthe abolition of allsutonomous at. art should rather be placed entirely at the service atthe design of utilitarian ‘objects. In essence, twasa call to completely sub- sumearttodesign, Acthe samotime.the project of Russian Constructivism was a tal project: ie wanted ta ‘design lifeas.a whole. Oniyfor tat reason—and only at that price—was Russian Constructiviem prepared to exchange atonomousart for utilitarian art justas the tractionalartist designed the whole ofthe artwork, so the enstructivist artist wanted todesign the whole of seciety Ina certain senae, the Sovitartistshaina chee atthe time other than toadvance such tatalaim, The marke, inclvding {heart market, was eliminated by the Communists Artista ware ne longer fed with private consumers and thelr private interests and aesthetio prefer. oncee, but with the state as avinole, Necessarily it aval or nethingfor artes. This etuationie clearly reflected in the manifesios of Russian Constructv- ‘sm. For exampla,in his programmatic toxt entitles ‘Constructiviem, AloxeiGen wrote:"Notto reflect, not to represent and nctto interpret reality, but t> really build and exprossthe systematic taske ofthe new class the poletart.. epectaly now, when: the proletarian revolution hes Been victorious, and Idestuctie creative moverenttaprogroslng Slongtreronrals into culture, which organized Scocng iva rare panof soil precuction, treryone™-the master cf coler andi, the biter Sfepace-oire forma andthe organizer jroducione--mustal become constructors n regenera wera theermingandmavingof the inary miioned human masses" For Gan the gal metus dongn was nattoimposs aren {ormonevereny founder soilom,outrther {oromeln yal trades, rvautonry reduction nate avoid making now ornaments or now things. Honee itl Torabuhin averted nite fumavececay-Frmthe Easeitotho Machine” at thoconstuctvet arin could not pay formative feleinthe process of actual social production. His ‘oe wasrather that of 9 propagandst whe defends ‘hares thm beauty raul proton ad Spans the puics ayes to thst Te ars, Staeecrbed by Terai, iaomeore who ooks Stine entratyofeoialt production a aready~ mate —a ind of social Duchamp who exhibits Soclastindustry asa wholeas someting good nd beaut “he modar designe. whether bourgeis or proletarian, cals forth other divine vision forthe fretanola that enables peopletseethe tueform ‘rthngs inthe Pltonieandehvietan wadtons, tindergoinga metaoie means making te transit from a wordy perepectve to an oterworly po ‘Sree, om apespecte ote metal boy 0a gurspecto ofthe mmartel soul Since the death Boskot course, we can nolongerbalive that there tesomething tice the aut nat is atinguiohod fs ‘heuosyinthe sone that ee mace independent tthe body and canbe soparates rom it However, that does not by any means suggest theta metanoia 's nolonger possible. Modern design ie the attempt tobringabout auch anetancia—an effort to see ‘ene’ own body and one own surroundings as puti= fied of everything earthly aritrary and subjectes toa particular aesthetic taste.ina-sense,itcould be ‘2id that modernigm aubsttutag the design ofthe corpse fr the designctthe soul This funeral aspact of modern design wae recognized by Loos even bafore he wrote “Ornament and Grime" In his toxt“Tha Poor Little Rich Nt Loos els atthe imagined fate ofa rich Viennese ‘man wino decided to neveris entire house d byanartst. This man tally subjected! lifetethe dletates ofthe dasigner (Loos speake, admittedly ofthe archtect)foras soon a8 his thor- oughly designed houseisfinisneo, the man can no longer change anytning in twithaut the designor's pecmisson. Everything that thisman would later buy and do must ft inte the overall design ofthe house, not ust literallybut also aesthaticaly Ina word of total design, the man himseithas become a Sesigned thing akin ef museum object, amummy, ‘publicly exhibited corpse. Loos concludes his lows:*He was shut outof future life anditsstrivings, Its developments, and ts desires. He felt: Now isthe timoto learn to walkatout with one's ovmcorpse, Indeed! Hoi finished! teie completa!" Inhis. ‘scay"Design and Crira whose tile was inspired by Looe; Hal Foster interpreted thie passage as an implicit all for‘runningroom,"fr breaxingoutet theprison of tote design’ Ite abvious,hamever, that Loos'taxt should not be understood as a protest against tra total dominance of design. Loos Dotests against desigr as ornamentin the name of nother, “true” design, a thomname ofan entdecignthat foes the cansum from dependence onthe taste ofthe professional dasignar Ae the aforamen- tioned exampef the shows demonstrates, under ‘theregime of avant-garde antisosig, eoneumere {ake responsiblity fr their own appearance and forthe design of their éally ives. Consumers do 20 bbyasserting thelr own modern taste, which olor lates no ornamontand vence no additional artistic or craftlabor By taking athialand aesthetic responsiblity forthe mage they offer the outside ‘nor however, consuners become prisoners of {otal design toa muchlarger degree than aver before inasmuch as thoy ean no onger delegate their aesthetic decisions to others. Modern con- sumers present the word the image of their own peteonality—purfied fal outside influence and Srnamontation But thi purification of their own image is pototially just as infinite a process as the purification ofthe soulbefore God. Inthe white city, inthe heavonly Zion, ae Loos imagines i, design is truly total forthe fret time, Nothing can be changed ‘ther ithor:nethingecorful,noornamentean be ‘smuggled in. The differance a simply thetin the white city ofthe Future everyone isthe author ef hie Swneorpee—everyore bevimnes at anit deste ‘who has ethical, politcal, and aecthaticresponsi- bility fers or her environment. ‘ne can claim, ofcourse, thatthe original pathos of avant-garde antidasign nas long since faded that avant-garde design has become ¢ certain designer style emang other possibie styles. ‘Thatis why many people view our entire society ‘eday—the soclety of commercial design ofthe spectacle—as.a game with simulacra banind Which there isontyavod. That indeed how this Society presents itsel.but only ane takes a purely Contemplative position, siting inthe lodge andwatchingthe spectacle of society But this position verte the fat that sign today has become total--and hence tn longer admits of a contem= Plative postion fom the perspective ofan outsier: The turn that Loos announced nis dayhas proven tobeirreversibie: every citizen af the contemporary ‘wort tl has to take ethical, aesthetic, and polit Cal responsioility for hisor he slf-design. Ina society in vhich Geeign nas taken ove the function ofreligion, solf-design bacomesacrood. By deslgn= Ingone’s self andone'senvronmentin a certain way one declares one's faith in certain values, attitudes, programs, and ideologies. naccordence with this {reed one Is judged by society, and this judgment ‘can certainly be negative and even tiveaten the life ‘andwel-being ofthe person concerned. Hence modern design belongs not so muchin ‘aneconamie context asina political are. Modern ‘design has transformed the whole af secal apaco into sn exhibition spacefor an absent civinovisitor, inwhich individuals appear both as artists and ‘a elf-produced works of art. Inthe gazo ofthe modem viewer however, the aosthetiecomposi- thon of artworka inevitably betrays the political onvitioneof thei authors--and is primariy on that Basie that thoy are judged. The debate over headscarvae demonstrates the political arceot fesign In order understand that tise primarily ‘debate about design, tsutficesto imagine that Prada or Gueei has begun to design headscarves In such acase,decidingtbetween the headscarf as a ‘symbol of isamic carvictions anc the headscarf as ‘commercial brand becomes an extremely dificult ‘esthetic and political task. Design cannot tnere- fore be analyzed exclusivoly within the context of ‘te economy of commodities, One could just as soo ‘speak of suicide design—for example, in the case of vicide attacks, whichare wellknown tobe staged According to strict aesthetic las, One ean speak bout the design of poner out alan about the dosign ofresistancearthe design af alternative potical. ‘movements. n these instances designs practiced tsa production of aitferences—citterences that ‘often take on palitial semantics athe same time. We often hear laments that pois tay is concerned only witha superficial image—and that so-called content loses its relevance inthe process ‘his is thought tobe te fundamental malaise of politics today. More and more, thereare calle to turn ‘way from politcal design andimage makingand Feturn to content Such ements ignore the fact that Unde the regime of madern design, ts precisely the visual positioningofpoitiiane inthe field of the mase media that rakes the crucial statement ‘concerning their poitics—or even constitutes ‘thee poities.Content,by contrast, is completely Inolovant, bacauve it changes constantly. Hence the gonoral publi ie by ne meane wrongto judge Ite poiticiane according to their appearance —that 's,abcording to theirbasie agsthetic nd politcal ‘reed, andinot according o arbitrary changing pro- {game andeontents Ua Uy support or formulans “Thus modora design evades Kant’ famous Aistintion between disinterested avethetic contemplation and theuse ofthings guided by Intorest. Fora ong tine ater Kant, sinterested Contemplation was considered superior toa pract- calatttude:a higher, fot the highest, manifesta- tlonof the human spe But already bythe ond of the nineteenth century a reevaluation of values nad ‘aken place: the vita contemplativa was thoroughly Aisreaited, and the via activo was elevated to the truetasi of humancind. Hence today design is accused of seducing people into weakening theiractivity vitality. and energy—of making thom pas five consumers win ack wil, who are manipulates byomnipresant advertising and thus becomevic~ ‘ims.f eaptal The apparent cure for this iling into slaepby the society of he spectacleis ashock-tike fenccuntar wen theres” that ie suppased to rescue people fom their contemplative passivity and move ‘themto action, whichis the only thing that promises an experience of truth as tving intensity. The debate ow only over the question whether such an fenccunter wth the reals stil possibie or wether the real has definitively disappeared behind its osigned surface Now, however, we can no longer disinterested contemplation when is of self-manifestation sel-design, and sol post tioninginthe aesthetic field, ence the subject of ‘ch sel contemplation clearly has avialntorest inthoimage her she offers tothe outside word. ‘Once people hed an intorect in how their soule ‘appeared to God; today thoy have an interest in how {hei bodies appa other political surroundings. ‘Thisintorestcerainiy points to the real. The eal, howover,omorges here otasa shock-like interup= Uomo te daeiged surface but at question ofthe technique and practice of el dasign-—a question noone can escape anymore. In his day Bouyssai3 that everyone had tha night to seehim-or herself fanart. What was then Understood asa ight has now become an obligation. Inthe meantime, we have been condemned to being the designers of our ewes, jeakotThe Production of Sincerity ‘These days, almost everyone seems to agree thatthe times in which art tried to eotebliah ite avtonomy—successfully or unsuccosstully—are over dine yet this agnosis is mad with mixed {eclings.dne tends to celebrate tnereadinoss sf contemporary att transcend the tracitional confines ofthe artaystem itauch amove is dietated byawilltocnange te dominant social and political conditions, to make the world a better place—if the ‘move, nother words i ethically metivated. One vs to deploron the ether hand, that attempts to anscend the at system never seem ta lead beyond! the aesthetic sphere: instead of changing the wot, artonly makes it ook beter. This causes a great eal of frustration within the art system, in whieh the predominant mood appears to almost perpetu- aly shiftback and forth between hopes to intervene inthe world beyond art and disappointment (even espa) duo tthe impossibly of achieving such a {001 While this failures often interpreted as proof bf a's incapacity te penetrate the political sphere uch, I would argue inatoad that fhe politiize- tion of artis sericusly intended and practiced, ‘mostly succeeds. rt cann fact enter the pica phere and, indaed, ar already hae entored it many timesinthe twenticth century. The problem's rnotart’s incapacity te become truly political, The probiam is that today’s political aphere has already bocome aecthotcizad. Whon art becomes political itisforcedto make the unploscant ciecovery that politics nas aveaay bacome art~—that polities has ready situated itl inthe aesthetic Hold Inourtime,everypolltician, sports hor, torroris,or move tar generates large number of mages because the media automaticaly cov- frs their activities. Inthe past, the division of labor between polities and ar was quit clear:the politician was responsibieforthe polities and the artist reprosanted those polities through narration or depiction, The situation as changes {rastcaly sce ten The contemporary polteian no longer needs anatitto gain fame inscribe himsel within statistical archives. Every important polities figure and event isimmeciately registered, Fepeesented, descrined, depicted, narrated, and Interpretecby the madia. The machine of media overage doesnot need any individual artistic Intervention or artistic decision inorder tobe put Imo mation Indeea, contemparary mass media has amergea as y ar the largest and most power- ‘ulmachine for producingimages—vastly more extensive and effective than the contemporary art system. ie are constantly fed images of war, toro, And catastrophe of all kinds ata level of production | and ditrbution with which thearist’s artisanal shilscannot compete, Nowsif]an artist does manage to ge beyond ‘the art systom, this artist bogins to funetion nthe ‘same way that politicians ports herces, torrarists, movie stars,and other minor ormajor celebrities already function through the modia. In ather words, ‘the artiet booomes the artwork While the transition from the artsyetem tothe political eid is possibie, ‘this transition operates primarily as a change in the positioning af the artatvie-4-vie the production of ‘he image: the arti coases tobe an image producer and becomes an image himealt Tis transformation ‘hae already regteresinthe late ninetosnth cen turyby Friedrich Nietzsche, wha Famousiy claimed ‘hatitisbetterto be an artwork than to bean artist! Df course, becomingan artworknot only provokes pleasure but also the ansety of being subjected in favor radeal way tothe gaze ofthe ather—ta the {gaze of the media functioningas.a super art. would characterize this anxiety as one of sell-design because it forces the artistas wel As almestanyeady who comes tobe covered bythe Inedia—toconfront the image ofthe elf tocorrect, fo change, to adapt, to contract this mage. Today, ne often hears thatthe art four time functions Increasinglyinthe sameway se designandtoa | Certain extent thie le true. But the uitmate problem of decign concerns not how design the worl out sido, buthow | design myeatt—ar rather how deal withthe wayin which the worlddosigne me. Today, thishas become a general, all-pervasive problem with wish averyene-—and not just politician: movie stare, andcalebrties—e confronted, Tocay, everyone is aubjectedto an aesthetic evaluation — veryone is roquited te take aesthetic responsiblity fornisorner appearancain the world, forhis or har felt-design, Where twas once a privilege and a burden forthe chosen fawn ourtime eelf-cesign has cometo be the mass cultural practice par excel: lence. The virtual space ofthe nternetis primary narenain which my website on Facebook por mmanently designed and redesigned to be presented {oYouTube—and vice versa Bu likewise in the eal or. les say analog world, one expected to be responsible forthe image that he or se prosents tothe gaze others, t could even be eal that se design is practice that unites artist and audience alike inthe most radical way: though not everyone produces artworks everyones an artwork At the fame time everyone's expected to be hisorher own author Nom every kindof design—including slf- esign—is primarily regarded bythe spectator ‘otae.away to reveal things, but as away to hide thom. The aostheticization of politics simiariy considoredto beaway of substituting substancei 3 : : : z with appearance, real eeues with superticil Image-making, However wrile the issues constantly change, the imageremains.Just as one can easily ‘become a prisoner of his or her own maga, ene. peltical onvictions can be ridiculed as boing mere ‘Sel design. Asstheticization i often identified ‘nth aeduction and colebration. Walter Benjamin ‘obviously ha thiuse ofthe term “eestheticiza tion" in mind when he opposes the politicization of aesthotice tothe aosthatcization of polities atthe ‘end of his famous essay "The Work of Artin the Age ‘f Mechanical Reproduction But one ean argue, ‘on the contrary, that every act of astheticzation is always already critique of te objet of aesthet ization simply because this act calle attontion to ‘tho object's need fora supplement in order to look better than it actuallyis.Sucha supplement always functions asa Derridean pharmokan:while design makes an abject look better, tkawise rises the “suspiion that ths object would took especialy Ugly and repellent were ts designed surface to be removed. Indeed, design—inclusing slf-dosign primarily a mechanism for inducingsuspicion The contemporary world of total design soften described asa worl of total seduction from which ‘teunpleasantness of realty has disappeared. ‘But Iwouldargue,rather thatthe world of total design is @ world of total suspicion, aworté of latent danger lurking behind designed surfaces. The main goal of sif-design then becomes one of neutralizing the suspicion ofapoesble spectator, of ereatingthe sincerity effect tat provokes trust Inthe epestator'e soul In today's worl, the produc tion of sincerity ana trusthes Become overyanc’s ‘ecupation—and yet twas, and stilis,the main ‘ecupation of art throughout the whelshitory of ‘moderritythe modem artist has always positioned himsoif or herself ae the only honest person ina world of hypocrisy and corruption. et ws briefly invootigate now the production of sincerity and trust hha functioned inthe modern period inorder to, charactarize the way functions today. ‘One might argue thatthe modorist produc- tionof sincerty functioned as a reduction of design, Inwhich the goal was to cresteabank, void space atthe center ofthe designed word, ol minate design, to practice 22re-design. In thie way the antstc avant-garde wanted to oreata design free areas that would bs perceived as areas of honesty, igh morality sincerity ane trust. In observing the ‘mecia’s many designed aurfaces, one hopes that {he dark, obseured space beneath the madia wil somehow betray or expose itself nother words, wweare waiting fora moment et sincerty, amoment Inwhich the designed surface eracks open to offer aview ofits inside. Zero-design attempts to arti cally produce this cracktor the spectator, allowing him orher to see things as they erly are, But the Rousseauisticfalthin the equation of sincerity and zero-design has receded nour time, Weare n longer ready to baiove that minimalist \esign suggests anythingabout the honesty and sincerity ofthe designed subject. The avant-garde ‘proach tothe design ofhonesty hae thus become one syie among many possible styles, Under these conditions the effect of sincerity is created not by refutingthe inital suspicion directed toward very designed surface, but by confirming. This ® to say that we are ready to believe thata crack Inthe designed surface has taken place—that Wwoareableto seethings as thoy truly are—only when the reality bind the facade shows itselfto be dramatically woreethan we had ever Imagined‘haProduton sincerity Confronted with a world of total design, we can only aceopt a catastrophe,a state of emergency.a olent rupture inthe designed eurface a auc Feason to believe that wo ae allowed aviewof the realty that lies beneath. And ofcourse thireal- itytoa must show teelfto be acatastrophis one, ‘because wo suspact something torr ble to be going lon behind the design—cyrical manipulation, politi cal propaganda, hidden intrigues, vested intareat, Cenmes. Following the death of God, the conspiracy theory became the anly surviving form of tradition metaphysics asa discourse about the hidden and the invisibie. Where we once had nature and Goa, row have design and conspiracy theo": Even i we are gonoraly inclined to distrust the meaia, [tis no accident that me are immedh ately ready to eliove t when itallsus about a lobe financial cristsor delivers te images fom ‘September 11 into our apartments. Even the most ‘committed theorist of postmodern simulation began to speak about the return af the real as, they watched theimages of September 1, There isanold tradition in Westorn art tat presents anartistas a walking catastrophe, and—at east from Baudelairecn—medern artists were adept at cresting images of eviurking behind the surface, ‘which immeaiately won the trust ofthe publi. In ‘ur day, the romantic image ofthe poéte moudit is substituted by that ofthe artist being expitly eynical—greedy, manipulative, business-oriente, Seokinganiy material profit,andimplementing at ‘asamachine for deoalvng the audience, Wehave. learned this strategy of calculates self danunca ‘ion—of col donunciatory sat-design—from the ‘examples of Salvador Dal'and Andy Warhel, of eft Koons and Damion Hirst. However old this strategy has rarely missed ite mark Lokingat the pubic ge of theae artete we tend to think, “Oh, how su,"butat the same time,"On,how tue Ge Misign 2c cot denunciation ati functons in atime hon the avant-garde 270-deaign of honeaty fale Hore, in fact, contemporary art exposes how our fro celebrity cuture works:through calculated Haclosures anc eett-ciclosurea, Calebitio (polt- biansinclusea) are presented tothe contemporary hcience as designed surfaces, towhich the publle fesponds with suspicion and conspiracy theories, Thus to make the palticians lok trustwarthy,one Inust create a moment ofeisclosure—a chance lopeer tough the surface tsay,"Oh, this paliti= fan is a8 bad as| always supposed him arher to bec" Wt thie daclosure trust the system i, restored through a ritual of symbolic sacrifice and seit-sacrifice, stabilizing tne calebety systom by Confirming the suspicion to which tis necessarily tlready subjected. According tothe economy of tymbolic exchange that Mareel Mauss and Georges Bataille explored the Individuals ho show them elves tobe especialy nasty e.g. the individuals who demonstrate the most substantial symbolic Sacrifice) receive the most recognition and fame. This factalone demonstrates that thi situation has loss to dowith true insight than witha special case of slf-design:today, to decide to present oneself as ‘thcally bad is to make an especially good decision Interms of sli-design(genius=swine) Dut thera is alsoa subtier and more sophie: ticated form of et-dosign es set sacrifice symbolic euicide. Following tia subtler strategy of ‘t-dosign thoartiat announces the death ofthe author, that hie or her awn symbolic death. In this case, the artist does not prociaim hime or herself tobe bad, but tobe dead: The resulting artwork ‘then presented as boing collaborative, partiipatony,‘ePraductenotsincerty ‘and democratic. tendency toward collaborative, Participatory practice ¢ undeniably ona ofthe ma ‘charactristics of contemporary at. Numerous {groupe of artists throughout the word are ascert= Ing collective, even anonymous authorship of their work: Moreover, collaborative praction of his type {end to encourage the public to join in, to active {he sociat miliev in which these practices ufol. Tis self-sacrifice that forgoes indiigual autho ship alo finds its compensation withina symbolic {economy of recognition and fame. Participatory at reacts ta the modern state affair inart that can be described easly enough in ‘the ollowingwmay. the artist produces and exhibits fartand the publi views and evaluates whats ‘exhibited. This arrangement would seam primarily tobenefit theartist, who shows himsel or hereait tobe. activeindividual in apposition toa passi ‘anonymous mass audience. Whereas the artist has the power to popularize his or her name, theident- {lee of the viewers remain unknown inspite of eit raloin prvidingthe validation that factates the Artist's success, Modern art can thus easily be miss Conetrued as an apparatus for manufacturing ats ticcolebrity atthe expense ofthe pubic. However, itis often overlooked that in the modern peiod, the artisthas always been delivered up tothe merey oF public opinion--ifanartworkedoas nat find Favr ‘nth tho public, than tie de Tacte recognized as being devoid of value. This ie mogemerts main oriet:tnemeaer artwork haeno “inner” value of its own, no merit beyond what publictaste bestowa! LponitInancient temps, aosthetie dieappreval was insufficient reason torejectan artwork The statues produced by the artiste of that time we regarded as embodiments ofthe gods: they were revered,one knesied down notare them in prayer, {he sought guidance from them and feared them. Pooriy made idols and badly painted icons wera in Wotalse par ofthis sacred order andto dispose of fny of them out would have been sacrilegious. Thus, Within aapecifcreligioustradition artworks hve their own individua,"inner" value, independent of the publics acethetijucgment. This valve derives ftom the participation ofboth artist and publicin gommunal religious practices, a common affiliation that rolativizos the antagoniem between artist and publi By contract, tho secularization ofart entails its radical dovalustion. This is why Hegel asserted At tho boginringf his Lectures on Aesthetics that hrewasathingof the past. No magern artiet could ‘pect anyone to kneel in front of his or her wark in prayer, demand practical aesitance from tor uso Ittwavere danger. The moat one is prepared todo owadays isto finda artwork interesting, andof ourse to ask now much itcostsPriesimmunizes the artwork from publictaste toa certain dogree— hud economic considerations not been a factor in limiting the immediate expression oF publi taste, 8 good deal of the art hel in museums today wou have landed in the trashaiongtime age. Commun participation within te same economic practice {hus weakens the radical separation between art- Istané audiance to acertain degree, encouraging fcertaincompicityin which the pubic is forced to espectan artwork for high price even when thatartworkisrot well tked, However there stillromaing a significant difference betvesn an artwork’ religious valve and ts economic value, ‘Though the price af an artwork the quantifiable result ofan aesthetic value that has been identified With the respect paid toanartworxcue tots, Price does nt byany means translate automaticallyInto any form of binding appreciation Thisbinging tolue of art canthus be sought anlyin nancommer- a, ifnot directly anti-commercial practices, For thisreason, many modernartists have tried to regain common ground with theiraudiences by enticing viewers out oftheir passive rates, by bridging the comfortable aesthetic distance that Allon uninvolved viewers to judge an artwork Impartially from a secure, extornel perepective. The majority of these attempts haveinvolved political brideolagieal engagement of ane sort or another Religious community a thus replaces by «political Imovement nwhich artists and audiences com ‘murally participata When the viower is involved Inartistis practice from the outset, every poss of enticism uttered bacomoseol-eritciam, Shared poiltical convictions thus render aoetheticajudg- ment partialyor completa irrelevant, ao wat the case with sacralartin the past To put tbluntyt snow better to bea cead author than tobe a bad futhor Though the artist's decision to rlinguian ‘Tain nara aterm treater exclusive authorship would seem primarlyzo Dein ‘Sivan ern seam tne interest of empowering thevewer, this sacrifice ultimately benefits the artist by erating his or he ork rom the cold ee of the uninvolved viewers ludgment. g i i } a } adof arti today requentt equated with the arimarkatand he artworks primanly denied {Ssacommeslty Thatarttunctonsin the camtextof {Woartmartetandovery workeFart ies common, |sbeyond doubt yst art also made and existed {orthose who donot wantto bear callectors,andit infact these peopl who conetitute the majrty tthe arepubte Thetypicalexhintonvittor rarely Niews the workon dplay a commodity A the Same time the numberof arge-ealeexhbiione— biennale, viennales, Documentas Manifestas ie constant gring In spt othe vat amounteot Imaney and energy invested in theceexhtons, Politics of Installation thereat pari erart aye utr {ie puils~foran anonymous sitar who will bemape never buy an artwork: Lkewiso at fa, ‘ile ostansty existing serve art buyers are row inaresingly transformed int public events, tracing population wt tie meestintuying a orwithout the inanlal ably to do so. The art oystemisthus on ta wey tobecomingpartot {heey mass calture that thasfor slong eouht {oobserveand analy from adistance, arts, Becoming a partof mass culture, nots a sourcect individual works tobe waded on heart market, bt as aneeibition practice combined with architc: tote, design and Teohien™jsta twas envisaged bythe ploneering minds the avant-garde by he atist ofthe Bauhaus the Vahuteras anothers {soar a8the 1920s: Thus contemporary art can bo understood primerlyaa an exhiiton pretice Trsmeunsamongathar ting, that ts becoming increasingly efeut today toaierntate betwen {womaln igre of th contemporary ort wort the ‘istand the curator ‘he vaditonal dvision of labor nithin the art system was clear Artworke wore tobe producedhyartists and then selected and exhibited by cura- Ill the public. Accordingly. the curators role isto tors But, atleast since Duchamp, tie division of aicguard its publle charactor while ringing the labor nas collapsed. Today, there ino longer any Insividual artworks inte chis public space making “ontological difference between makingart and them accessible tothe publi, publctzngtnem It splayingar. Inthe context of contemporary art, Ipobvious that aningividualartworkcannot assert tomake art isto show things as art. Sothe quation Il Ite prozence by itso, forcing the viewor to take a arsesis it possible, and, ifs0, ow sit possibiata, Ml locks Ielacks the vitality, anergy. and health > iferertiatebetween the role ofthe artist and that Mf 92a. Inits origin, it seems the work artie sick, ‘ofthe curator whenthere is noditference betwoon Ml eipiss;in order to ee viewers must be brought {art's production and extibition? Now, would argue to tasvisitrs are brought to abedridden patont ‘that this distinction stil possible. Ad would bynospital stat Its ne caineidence thatthe ward todo soty analyzing he difference between the "Curator" is etymologiealiy related to “cure to standard exhibition and the artiste instalation, A curate is to cure. Curatingcures the powerlessness conventional exhibtionis conceived as an accumu: | ofthe age, ts inability to show iselFby set lation of art objects placed nextto one another in Eshiiton practice sens tha cure that heal anexhbition space tebe viewed in euccestion. tn the originally alingimage, that gives it presence, thisase, the exhibition space works a8 an exten visibly: ebrings tothe publiewiew and tune it sion of neutral, publicurban space—as something lito the oblect ofthe puble's judgment However tke aside alley into which the passerby may turn bne ean say that curating functions as. supple upon payrentof an admission fee. Themovement ment, (ke. phormokon inthe Dernideen senteit of avistor trough theexhibition pace remains both cures the image and futher contributes tos similar to that of someone walking wna street lines. The iconoclastic potentiatof curation wa and obsorvng he architecture ofthe houses let inally applied‘ the sacral abject ofthe past, land right. It ie by no means accidental tat Walter presenting themas mereart objectsin the neutral, Benjamin constructed his "Areades Project” arcund I] empty exhibition spaces ofthe modern museum oF ‘hisanalogy between an urban stroller and anexhi= | Kunsthalle it icuratos, infact, including museurn bition visitor. The body of thoviewer inthis setting curate, who orginally produced art inthe modern remains outsidecfthe art:arttakos piaca infront o! | tense ofthe word. The frst art museums-—founded ‘the viewer's eyes—avan artobject,a performance, Wl inthelateeightoenth and enrly nineteenth centu~ ‘ora film, Accordingly, the exhibition space ie under ‘ies and expanded in the cours of the nineteenth stood nereronean empty neutral public epace—a century due toimpersl conquests and te pillaging 'symbole property of ene public. The only function of non-European cultures celleeted all sorta of of sucha space isto make the art objects that aro "beautiful" functional object previously used for Placed withinitessilyaccessibietothegazeaFthe Mf roligoue ites, intenor decoration or manifestations visitors. of personel wealth, and exibited them a8 works, The curator administers this exhibition space Mf] of art, that ae defunctionalzed autonomous inthe name ofthe publie—as representative objects bet up forthe more purpose of being viewed.Boron Altar originates ae design, bolt oligous design tr the design of power. the modern peried as ‘wel, design precedes at-Looking for modern arin {odey's museume, one must realize that what ie to be aan there ae aris, above all,defunctionalized design fragmenta, be itmae-cultraléesign, from Duchamp urinal to Wernoe Brille Bores,or utopia dosignthat—from Jugendstlto Bauhaus, trom the Russian avant-garde to Donald Judd—scught foe shape ta the new lfe"of the future. Artis {design that has become dysfunctional because the society that provided the basis fore suored ‘historical collapse, like the Inca Empire or Soviet Russi Inthe course ofthe modern era, however, artists began to assert the autonomy oftheir art— lnderstood as autonomy from pubi¢ opinion and public taste. rtets have required the right to make: ovaraign decisions regarding the content and the form oftheir work beyond any explanation or jus- ‘fication vis-a-vis the public. Ane they were given this right—but only to acertain degree. The froodo tocreste art accarding toones own sovereign will, ‘does not guarantoe that an artist's work wil also be-exhibite in the public pace. Tre inclusion of anyarworkina publicexhibtion must beat {cast potentially publicly explained and justified. “Though artist, curator and art etc are free to ar for or against the inclusion of same artworks, every such explanetion and justification undermines theautonomoue, sovereign charactor of artetc freedom that modernist art apiredte win; ovary discourse legtimizingan artworks itsinelusion in ‘public exhibtionas only namong many in the fame public space, oan bo soe as an insult to that frtwork. Thi le why tho curator is considered to ba ‘Someone who keops coming between tho artwork and the viewer disempowering the artist and the ower alike Hence tne art market appears to be ‘more favorable than the museum or Kunsthalle to ‘modern, autonomous at. Inthe at market, wor of art circulate singularized, decontextuslized, Uncurated, which apparently offers them the opp tunity to demonstrate their aovereign origin without mediation. The art market functions accorcing to the rules of Potlatch as they were described by Mar- ‘al Mauss andby Georges Satille. he aovereign ‘decision of the artist to maka an artwork beyond any justifications trumped bythe sovereign decision of private buyorto pay for thiartworkan amount of money beyond any comprohonsion. ‘Now, the artistic installation doesnot crew \ete.Rather,tinstalle everything that usually oirou- latosin our eviization-ebjects, txts filme, ote. At thesametim it changes in avery raical ay the role and the function af the exhibition space. The Installation operates by moans ofa symbole priv tlaaion ofthe public space of an exhibition ftmay appear bea standars, curated exhibition, butt Space ls designed accordingto the sovereign will at anineivioual artist whois net supposed to publicly |usiy the selaction ofthe included objects, or the organization ofthe installation pace as awhole. The installation is frequerty denied the status ofa speciicar form, because fis not cbvious what the medium fan instalation actualiyis. Traditional art ‘media areal defined by a specie material support: Canvas stone or film. The material support of th Installation medium isthe space itself That does ot mean, hewever that the installation is somehow immaterial” On the contrary. the instalation Is material per excellence, since tis spatial —and beingin the space isthe most general definition of being material Theinstallation trensforms the‘empty, neutral, public space into an individual artwork-—and invites te vitor to experience th ‘pace 6 the holistic, totalizing space ofan artwork, Anything included in sucha space bacomes a part ofthe artwork imply becsuseitis placed insive {is space, The distinction between art object and ‘simple object becomes insignificant here, Instead, ‘what becomes crucial the oietinction between ‘marked installation space and unmarked public space. When Marcel Broadthaers presented his installation Musée wrt Moderne, Département des igi at the Dusseldorf Kunsthalle in 1970, ne put, ‘pa signnoxcto each exhibit saying'"This ie nota \norkof art"Asa whole, honever his installation hhas boon considered to be aworkof art, ang not without reason. The installation demonstrates & Certain selection, a certain chain of choices, a logic cfinclusions and exclusions. Here one can see an, analogy toa curated exhibition, But thats precisely the point:here, the selection andthe mode of repre entation isthe eoversign prerogative the artist alone. tis based exclusively on personal sovereign ‘cisions that are notin need of any further explar nation or justification. The artistic installation oa way o expand the domain of the sovereign rights of the artist from the individual art object to that ofthe ‘ahibtion space itett ‘This means that the artistic installation isa ‘pace inwhich the differance between the sover= ‘ign freedom of tho artet and the institutional re \domcrme curator becomes immediatly visible. ‘The regime under whieh artoparates in ur canter: porary Western culture is generally understood te, be one that grants freedom to art, Sut art's freedom ‘means differnt things to a curator and te an artist As have mentioned, the curator—including the so-called independent curator—uitimately chooet Inthename of the democratic public Actualiy.in order tobe responsible toward he publi, curator ‘do0s not need tobe part of any fixed inatittion, her she is already an institution by detinition, Accordingly. the curator has an obligation to publily Justify his or hor choices—and itean happen that ‘the curator falls todo so Of course, tha curator is supposed to have the freedom to prasent hie or her argument the publie—but this freedom of the publi discussion nasnothing todo withthe freedom of art, understood asthe freedom to make private, Individual, subjective, sovereign artistic {ecisions beyond any argumentation, explana tior,or justification Under the regime ot artistic ‘ooedom, every artisthas a sovereign right to make artexclusively according to private imagination. The Sovereign decision tomakeartintisor tat way is eneraly accepted by Wester liberal eocity a @ sufficient reason for assumingan artist’ practice tobe legitimate. Of course, en artwork can alsobe criticized and rejected-—but can only be rejected 138 whole. tmakesino sense tocrticize any pa Uieularchoices inclusions, or exclusions made ty anti. Inthis sense, the total space ofan artistic installation can also only be rejected as whole, To returnto the example of Broadthaers: nobody would criticize the artist for having overlooked this or that particularimage of this or that particular eagle in ‘he inetallation. ‘Onocan say thatin Westorn society the nction| ot reedom i deeply ambiguous not anlyin the field of art,butelsein the political held Freedom In the West is understood ae allowing private, soveraign decisions tobe made in many domains ‘of socal practice, suchas prvata consumption, investment of one's awn oapital or choice of one's ‘oun eligi. But in some other domaine, especialyInthe political Field, freedom isunderstood primar- ilyas the freedom of public discussion guaranteed bylaw—as non-sovereign, conditional, institutional {freedom Of course, the private, sovereign decisions in our societies ae contolledtaa certain degree by ‘pubic opinion and potical institutions (weal know the famous slogan“the private is pot, Yet,on, the other nd, open poitial discussion i time and again interrupted by the private, sovereign decisions of political acters and manipulated by private inter: ste (which then serv to privatize the political) The artist andthe curator embody ine very conspicuous manner, these wo different kinds of fleedom: the sovereign, unconéitional, publicly rresponeible freedom of art-making, andthe institutional, condi- ional, publicly responeible freedom of euratorship, Furthor, this means thatthe artist instalation it which the actof art production coincides with the atofits presentation becomes the perfect ‘experimental tora for revealing and ovotorng ‘the ambiguity tha es atthe core ofthe Western notion of freedom. Accordingly n the last decades Wwohave seen the emergence af innovative curator projects that seem to empower the curator to act nan authorial, soveroign way. And we ave also seen the emergence ot artistic practices seeking tobe collaborative, damocratic, decentralized, erauthoried. Indeee, the artistic installation i often viewed today asa frm thet allows the artist 0 \democratize eo: her atta take yutie responsi= bitty, to begin to actin the name ofa certain com munity or even of socletya a whole, n this sense, the emergence ofthe artistic installation seems to ‘mark the end ofthe modernist claim of autonomy {anc sovereignty The artist's decision to allow. the multitude of visitors toenterthe space of the artworkis interpreted as an openingof the closed Space ofan artwork o democracy. This enclosed Space seems tobe transfarmed into a platform for public decuscton, democratic practice, communi- Cation, networking, eduction, and 0 forth Out this tnalysisof installation art practice tends toover- look the eymbolioact of privatizing the public space Df theexntbtion, which provedes the acto opening the installation space ta a community of vitor. As [have mentionod, the epace of the traditional exh: bition sa symbolic public property and the curator ho managesthis space actin the name of public pinion. The visitor oF atypical exhibition remains on hisarneronn tertory aa eymbelicovner ofthe Space whore the artworks are delivered to his rhe {g2ze.ana judgment. On the contrary the pace ofan rtsticintallationis the symbolic private property bfthe.rist By entering ths space, tne visor leaves the publicterntery of democratic legitimacy and enters the space of sovereign, authorterian ontralThe visitor is here, soto spoak, an foreign ‘01nd, Inexle The visitor becomes an expatriate no mustsubmit ta foreign lan-—ane given ta him cher bythe artist, Hore the artist acts as logslator, fsa soveraign ef the instalation space—evan, and ‘maybe especially 80, the aw given by the artist to {community ef visitors isa demacraic ane ‘One might then say that installation practice reveals theact of unconditional, sovereign velence ‘hat initially installs any democratic order We know that democratic order is never brought about in ademocretie fashion—democrati order always ‘mergesas a result of violent revolution. To install “aii to break one. The first legislator can never fctin alegitimate manner—he installs the political ‘order, but does not belong tit He remains external totheordervonif he decides iaterte submit: i : 3 a bimsatftoit.The author of an artistic instalation ia ‘alsa such aegislator, who gives tothe community ‘fvietore the epace to constitute tel and doings ‘the ules to which this community must submit, but does 0 mithoutbelongingte this community, remaining outsieit. And this remains true event ‘heartist decides to join the community that Ne or sho hae created. This sacond step should not ea Ustoverioak the firetone—the sovereign one. And fone should also et forget: tte intiatinga cota ‘rdar-—a certain palteta,a.ertaln community of sitore—the instalation artist mustrely on the “rtinatitutions to maintain this order, to police ‘the uid poiteia of the installation’ visitors. With ‘agar tata ole of police na state, Jacques Der- Frida suggests inone ot his books (La force des oi) ‘that though the police are expected to supervise ‘he funetioningof certain awe, they rede facto tse invotvad in creating the very aws that thay ‘should merely supervise. To malntain ata always false means to permanently reinvent that aw Derrida tris to show that the violent, rovolution ‘any sovereign at of installing law and orcercan ‘ever be fully erased afterwards—this inital act bof violence can and wilalways be mobilized again. ‘Thivis especialy obvious now, in our time of violent ‘export, installing, and eecuring of democracy. One ‘should not forget: the installation space isamov= {leona The artinstalation's not site-specific, ‘anditean be installed in anyplace an for ary time ‘And we should be under no lusions that there can be anything like a completely chaotic, Dadaictie, Fluxus- Uke installation space fre of any conte. Inhis famous treatise Frongois, encore un offortel vous voulez étre r_publicane, the Marquis de Sade presents a vision of perfecty free society that hee abolished al existing aw netalingonty one: everyone must do whathe or she kes, incluging committing ormes of any kind What is especialy interestingis haw, atthe came time, Sade remarks Upon the necessity of law enforcement to prevent ‘the reactionary attempts of some traditionally minded citizens to return tothe old repressive state inwhich familys cecured and erimes forbidden. Sowe also noed the police ta defend the crimes ‘agsinet the reactionary nostalgia ofthe old moral order ‘nd yet the vilont act of constituting a ‘cemocratially organized community should not be interpreted as contraleting ts democratic nature, Sovereign freedom is obviously non-democratio, so italso s0oms tbe anti-democratic: However. even Ititappears paradoxical at first glance, sovereign freedom ie a necessary precondition for the omer gence ofany democratic order Again, tha practice ‘fart instalatan isa good example cf this lo. The standardart exhibition leaves an incviual visitor ‘alone allowing nim or her to indiully confront and contemplate the sxhibted art object, Moving from one bjectto another, uch an individual vitor necessarily overlooks the totality ofthe exhibitio's ‘ace including hisor her own postin within, ‘An artistic installation, onthe contrary. lds ‘|community of spectators precisely because oF the holistic unifying character ofthe installation space. The tuevisitor to the installation isnot anisolated individual, but a collective of vistors, ‘Theart space as such can only be perceived by a mass of vsitors—a multitude, you keith tis ‘multitude becoming part ofthe exhibition for each Incividual visitor and-vice versa, Theres adimension of mass cuture which iscften overlooked that becomes particulaly manifect in the context of art. pop concer! ori i flim screening creates communities amongits stendees. The members of these vansitory com tunities donot know each other their structure isaccidentalitremaine unclear where they have come from and whare they are going; they havo Tittle to sy toone anotherthey ack joint identity 2 previous history that could provide thom with common memories to chara; neverthelass, they are communities, These communities recembie those of travelers onatrainr airplane To putt iffrenty: these ae radically contemporary communities — ‘much more gothan oligos, political, or working ‘Communities, Al traditional communities are based, ‘onthe premise that their members, rom the very begining, ara linked by something that stem= from the pastacomman language, common faith, ‘comman political hstory,common upbringing. Such ‘communities tandto establish Doundaris detween themaoives and strangers with whom thay share no ‘common past. Mass culture, by contrast, creates communi- ties beyond any common past—unconditional ‘communities of @new kind. This s what reveals ts ‘vast potential fr modernization, whichis frequently ‘overlooked. However, mass culture ett cannot {uly reflect and unfold this potential, because the Communities It creates arenot sufficiently aware ‘ofthemeelves as such, The same cen be said of the ‘asses movingthrough te standard exhibition ‘paces of contemporary museums and Kunsthales. IiseftenSaldthat the museumis etist Ihave ‘always been astounded by this opinion, so counter tomy own personal experience of becoming part ‘ofamasc of visitors continuously flowingthreugh ‘the exhibition and museum rooms. Aeyone who. has ever leokod fra parking letrear amuseur, ‘ortried to leave. coat atthe museum checkroom, ‘orneeded to find the museum avatory willhave foason te doube the elitit charactor a hie institution—particulatyin the case of museums that are considered particularly elitist, suchas the ‘Metropolitan Museum or the MoMAin Naw York ‘day, global tourist streams make any ast claim lamuseum mighthave seem like a risieulous pre sumption. Ani these streams avold one specific exhibition is curator wil not be atall apy, wil. not feet elitist but disappointed fr having failed to each the masses, But these masses donot reflect themselves as such—they de not constitute any poltia, The perspective of pop-cancert fans or Imoviegoersis too forward-directed—al stage ot Screen —to allow them toadequately perceive and reflect the space in which they find themselves Cr the communities of which they have become. part. This the kin of reflection that advanced resent-day art provokes, whether as installation rt orasexperimentaleuratora projects, Theela tive spat seperation provided by the installation space dase nat mean a turn ana fromthe world, butrather a de-lecalization and de-teriterialization of mase-cultural transitory ommunities-—ina ‘say that assets thom in reflecting upon their wn Condition, offering thom an oppertunity to exhibit, ‘themooives to themselves, The contemporary art spaces space in whiah multitudes ean viow themeoives and colebrate themoelvee, a2 God or ings werein former timos viewed and selobrated Inenurenes and palaces (Thomas truths Museum Photographs capture this cimonsion ofthe museum voty well~thisamorgenee and dissolution of tran- stlonal communities More than anything else, what theinstallation fers to the ld erculating multitudes ian ura forthe here and now.Tha installation’s, abovefamass-cutural version of inavicualflanerie,a¢ jescribedby Benjamin, and therefore piace for the emergence of aura for"profane illumination” Ingoneral, the installation operates asa reversal ‘of epreduction. The installation takes a copy out of anunmarked, open space of sronymous ccula- tion ang placesit—ifonly temporariy—ithina fired, stable, closed context ofthe topologically well-defined "here anc now: Our contemporary ¢ondition cannot be reduced to beingatoes ofthe ‘ura to the cieulation of thecapy beyond “here and ‘on as described in Bonjamis famous essay on “The Work of Artin the Age of Mechanical Reproduc- ton Rather. the contemporary age organizes a lxinterplay of dsiocations and relocations, of detertorilizations and reterritoializations, of ‘de-auatizationa and re-ouratizatone, Benjamin chared high modernistar’s belief Ina unique, normative context fr art, Under his precupposition to loses unique, criginl context means for an artworkto lee it aura foreverto become a copy ofitcalt Tore-auratizean individual artwork would require a eacralzation ofthe whole ‘ Drofane space ofa copy’ topelogicaly undeter- aterm esac. osname mined mass creulation—a totalitarian, fascist pro) fet, to be sue. This the main preblem tobe found in Benjamin’s thinking: he perce copys mass cirulation {general—as auniversa, neutral, and homegenecus Space. He insists upon the visual raeagnivabilty, onthe self-identity of acopy ast crevices incur ‘contemporary culture But both ofthese principal presupposttionsin Ganjaminstavt are question able. Inthe framework of contemporeryculture,en mages permanenty circulating om one medium ‘wanother medium, na trom one closed contoxt to nother closed context. Farexample,a bit of fimfootage canbe shown ina cinema, then converted {to adigtal form and appear on somebody's website, 07 ba shown duting conference as anilustration, ‘orwatohed privately on atelevision ina person's Uivng room, or placed nthe context of ammuseum installation. In this way through efferent contexts ‘andmedia,thisbitaf fm footages transformed byaitferent program languages, ifferent software, diferent framings onthe screen, different place ‘ment nan installation space, and soon. All this {ima,are we dealing with the same film footege?l= Inthe eame copy of the same copy ofthe same origi ‘al? The topalogy of today's networks of commu ‘ication, generation, translation, and ictribution ‘of images extremely hetorogonooue. The image Grevonstenty transformed, rewrttan,rseditod, tnd reprogrammed asthey circulate through these. hetworks~-and with each step they ae visually tliered, Their etatus 98 copies of copios becomes lan everyday cultural convention, a5 was previously the ease with the status ofthe criginal Benjamin “suggests thatthe naw toshnology is eapable of prow ‘ducing copies wth ineroasing fidelity tothe orginal ‘whan infact the opposite ie the case, Contompora technology tinke in gonerations—and transmit information from one generation of hardware and ‘Software tthe newt sto transform tina significa ‘way. The metaphoric nation of "generation" as tis row usedin the context of technology i paticula ‘eunaling Where there are generations there are tsiso generational Oedipal confits-allof us know tna moans to transmit certain cultural ert ‘rom one generation of students to another ‘Were unabletostablize acopy asa copy. wo are unable stabiize an original as an orginal ‘There ara noetornalcopiesas tere are no eternal bniginals, Reproduction is as much infected by originality as originalityis infected by reproduc tionincirculating through various contorts.a ‘copy becomes a sariesof different originale. Evary change of context, every change of medium ean be Interproted as angation ofthe status ota copy as ‘acopy—as.an essential rupture, asa new star that pensannew future. inthis senes, acopy is never really copyt rather, anew original ina new context Every copy by itself alareur—experiencing {ime and again sown “profane iluminations® that turn into an original It loses old auras and gains rem auras. It emsins peshaps the same copy, but Itbecomescitforent originals. This also shows & postmodern project of eflectingon the repet tie, erative, reproductive character ofan image linspred by Benjamin) tobe as paradoxical asthe modern prejact of recognizing te orignal and the new.This is Ukewise why postmodern art tds to look very new, evenif—or actually because it's vected against the very nation ofthe new. Our ‘ecision to recognize a certain image as either an tginl or «copy ie opendnt on the context on ‘the scenein which this decision fstaken. Ths deci- sionie always a contemporary decision one that Bolongs not othe past and nt tothe future, but to ‘the present. And tis decision i also always a a reign docision—in fact, the installation space ‘orsuch acecision where here and now” emerges and prefaneillumination ofthe masoes takes place. ‘Sone can say that installation practice demonstrates tne dependoncy of any democratic pace in which masses or multitudos demonstrate ‘remselves to themeelves) an the arvae, sovereign decisions ofan artistas egiatator This was Something that was very wellknown tothe ancient rook thinkers, a it was tothe initiators ofthe aie democratic evolutions. But recently thsknowledge somehow became suppressed by tho dominant poltcal sioourse Especially after Foueault, we tnd to detect the soures of power inimpersonal agencies, structures, rules, and protocols, However, this fheation on theimpersonat mechanisms af power lead us to averiok the impo tance of individual, sovereign decisions anc action taking placein private, heterotopic spaces (touse another term introducec by Foucaut.Likew'se, ‘the mora, cemocrati poners nave meta-socal, meta-public, heterotopic origins. As has been mentioned, theatist who designs acertaininstal~ lation space ean outsider to this space, Heo she Isheterotopic to this space. But the outsiders not necessarily somebody whohas tobe included in ofder to be empowered. Theres also empowerment brexclasion, and especialy by sei-exclusion. The ‘utelder can be powerful precisely because he ot ‘she isnot controlled by sciety and isnt limited hisorher sovereign actions by any publi discussia ‘orby any need fer publi slt-ustification. And it ‘would be wrong te think that thiskind of powerful ‘utsidership can be completly eliminated through) ‘modern progress and demecraticrevlutions. The progress rational. But not accidentally, an att Iesuppooed by our culture tobe mad—at least to beobseeced. Foucault thought that medicino mony witehes, and prophete have no prominent placa in ur eocisty any mare-that they bacame outoaste, Confined te peyehiatie lirics. But our culture is manly aceisonty culture, and you cannot becomes Celebrity nithout boing mad (rat oastp tebe). Obviously, Foucault books and only afew society and gossip magazi because otherwise he wouldhave known where mb people today nave their true social place. is also ‘wel krown thatthe contemporary politicait is part of global colebrity culture, whichis toy thatit 'wexteralto the scciaty itules Global extra-der Dera, trans-state external to any democratically ganized community lito icin fac, structurally mad, insane. Now, these refections should not be mis- understood as aertique of ineallation as anart formby demonstratngits sovereign character The a fart, afterall i¢not to change thinge things fre changing by themselves allthe time arya, Art's unctionisratner to shows, to make vibe the ‘realities that ar goneralyoverlooxed. By taking esthetic responsiblity in avery explicit may for the design ofthe installation space the artist reveals te hidden sovereign mansion of the fantemporaty cemocraticerder that police, forthe most part, resto conceal. The instalation space is here weareimmediately confronted withthe lrmbiguous character of the cantamporary notion of freedom that functionsin our democracies as aten- sion between sovereign and institutional reedom, The rtistic installation is thus a space of unean- ealmont in the Heideggerian sence) ofthe notero- top, sovereign power iat is concealed behind the ebscire transparency ofthe democratic ordeThe formulation of diverse projects has become 8 Inaer contemporary preoceupation. These days, Fogle af what ane eto ut tdonthe econ- fomy.inpoitesorin culture one hae firs foormu- Inte a projector afcil approve or unding rom tne or sevralpubleauthortos Should ths project ‘be initially rejected, itis then modified inanattempt foimprove te chances of beng accepted. the tedacecondtime, one he choles butt propose an ontirlynew ae int place In {hs wayallmambere four aoeety are constant proosedpiod with dovsing, discussing, andvejecting Indians numberof projects. Appatals row ‘The Loneliness of the Project ter budgetemeticuloulyeaeulatee,comesions thir time reading nothing but propoval,epprale- als and budgets al forprojacs that will mestly romain forever unrealized. Aft al, tony teke ‘ne ortworeviewersto assess a project ae boing Aiicutta finance lacking promi, or simply unde- sirable, and all the labor invested in formulating the projecthas been rendered a waste of ime. ‘Needless to say, considerable amount of work goes into presentinga project. And projects {oday are submitted with ever greater deta so as to suitably impress ther various juries, commissions, ane public bodies. cordingly this made ofproject formulation s gradually advancing to become an arcorm nits own right—one whose significance for out society remains ttle acknowledged. For regardless of whether or nt aparticularprject Isactually carried out it nevertheless stands as @ Graf fora particular vision of the future, anc can for Is reaso be rascinatingana informative. Yet most ofthe projects generated ceaselessly by ourcivil~ Zaton simply vanish or are thrown away once theyare rejectod, and this negligent treatments hig Juolation. We all understand that when a project Fegretable indood, a it bars us from analyzing must be carries out, an immense time pressure Understanding the hopes and visions forthe fu leaves no time whatsoever for anything le. tis that have bean invested in them—hopes and vi fommonly accepted that writing beak preparing that might offer the greatast insights into our ‘nextibition, or striving to make ascientfedis- tty And while this is not the place fora socio ‘covery oblige the individual to avold socal sontact laalysi of contemporary projects, the real without automatically being judged a bad person, Concerns what hopes ar inked tothe project a ‘atthe paredox stat the longer the projects Such. Why would people even enoose to doa scheduled to ran, the greater he ime pressure one {tall rather than just oil into the future u lasubjected to, Most projects approvedin the pres by projections? fet ramework of contemporary art un fora periog ‘We may answer this question with the folly bf upto fiveyears atthe most. In cun,aterthistim= ingrabove alleise, each project strvos fora sol hed period of seclusion, the Individual ie expected ‘stnetioned loneliness, Indeed, to lack a plan of topresenta finished productand return tothe fay us at the mereyof tho of social communication—et least unt suarmit- nts, ofa goneralized fal tinga proposal foryet ancther project. In addition, ou" Soviety still continues to accept projecs thet occupy an entire lifetime, asin the elds efscience ‘apparentin the caso of events that per definition ‘rat, Someone in pursuit of particular geal ‘cur without prior planning, uch as earthqua ‘thor knowledge or artistic activity i pertited ‘major Fires, or Flooding These sorts of events ‘otime for his social anvronment foran unlimited ‘ring people closer togetho they force us to com: ‘uration. And ya this person nonetheless ‘munieate with ene another and actin unison. But ‘xpocted to present, by at leat the final maments ‘the same also applies to any kind of personal mi of his or her life, come form of fisished product — fortune—whoever has broken a lego Been str work—that will retroactively offer social justifies ‘down by airusimmeciately becomes dependent tion orale spentin isolation ‘noutsidehelp. But in everyday lia, even wien ‘But there ae also other kinds of projects with ‘mindlasaly teks an without purpose, people are ‘no sttime Umi infinite projects such as religion Faldina common Bond bya shared rhythin of wor othe Buldingat a batter society thatirravseebly landrecreston In the prevaiingcorditions of dll Femove people from theirsocial environmont and lite, individuale who arent preparedto enter nto.) piace them within the timeframe of the lonely proj- ‘communication at any moment with thelr fellow ct. The execution of such projects often demande people rateas ficult, antisocial. and unfriendly Ml) collective etre a their solation thus frequently “andare subject social censure. becomes a shared one, Numerous rel Burtnisetuaioncranges raat unis and sees arekrowntowthga om ‘hemoment one presents asovaly sanctione their social environment to pursue their own project Individual project abhis or her ustitication fr self) of eprtual improvement. Ouring tne communist ‘Thetonatnesofthe Project«ra, enti countries severed thelr tes to ther 9jecthas been executed. But in order to build ‘humanity in order to achieve thei goal of build chs new foture, one firsthas to take a leave of {better society, OF course, we can ow safely Hbsonce, atime in which the project shiftsite agent thatall these projects have failed, sine they Into a parallel state of heterogeneous time This, ro finished product to show, and because there fhe simaframe, in turn disconnects fromtime ‘were 80 many cases in which thee proponent ts society experonces it—itis de-eynchrerizes ‘eschewed ther self-icolation in favor of return Societys tifa cartes on rogardless—the utvak ‘Social life, Accordingly, modernization is gene unof things remains unaffected, ut somenare Understood as aconstant expansion of commu yond this general flow of ime, someone nae tion, ae a process of progressive secularization bun working on a project-—writinga book, dispels all states of loneliness and self-isolation. proparing an exhibition, or plotting a spectacular Modernization is even asthe emergence ofa new fioassination inthe hopeethat the completed society of totalinclusion that roles out al forme project wil ator the general run of things and all ‘exclusivity Butthe project as euch ean altogethe hrankind willbe bequeathed different fuure:the ‘modern phenomenon —just asthe project to. ‘ory future, infact, entieipated an aspire in {an open, thoroughly secular sociaty of uninhibited Ih project. In other mords, every project thrives commuricaten ultimately remaing an ongoing Joely an the hope of bing asynchronizeawith ‘one. And tharality that each project amounts to the soil enviranmant. Aste project deemed proclamation and establishment of seclusion and ‘success ifthis resynchronization manages to 20l-golation gives modomity an ambivalent ser the social environment the desire direc- Witt fosters a compulsion for total communica tn, while itis deemed a failure ifthe run things tion and total ealective contemporanety onthe romaine unaffected by tha project's realization, Yet ‘ne hand, onthe other hana itconstantl gener the project's success and fllore share onething ‘ew projets that foster the repeated reconquost Incommon:botn outcomes terminate the roject, bt radicalsoation. his how we must peresive ‘and both resyachronizetne project's paral stato the various projects ofthe historical artatic avan ‘fie with that of the social environment. And in {g2rde, which devised their own anguages and thle both cases this resyrchranization typicaly prompts ‘wn absthetic agendas While tha lenguages ofthe ‘feoting of maaiea, even despondency, reqardiess fvant-garde might nave deen conceived as being cof whether the project ends in sucesso allure. In Universl,as the promise ofa common future for both eases, what i felt to belost is this suspension ‘ane and ail inthetr onntime they required the In paralleltime,alife beyond the general un of hermetic self-isolaton of thelr advocates —clea things. branding them fo alto se. Tf ones involved in a project—or, more pre Why does the project resutin isolation? cisely. tvingina project—one is always already in Intact, tne question nas already been answered. {he Ute, One le working on something tat cannot Each pojectis above all the deciaration of ana ot be shown to thers hat remain concesled and ew future thats thought tocome about once the Incommunicable. The project transports ane frm ‘TeaLonatineot hPa,‘Thelanetness of theProet toner the present into virual future, causing temporal rupture between oneself and those who stil wait, forthe futuretahappen. The author af the project already knows the future, since the projec is noth= ing other than a description ofit.And tis is why the approval processis so highly unpleasant to pro ects author:at the eariest stage of ts submission, the authors already asked to give ameticulously detailed description of haw this future wll be brought about and what ts outcome wil be. While the project willbe turned down and refused funding ifthe author proves incapable of doing so, suc cesefully delivering such a precise description will alo eliminate the very distance between an author and the others—a distance critical tothe entire development ofthe project. everyone knows from the very outeat what course the project ll take ‘and wat its outcome willbe, then the Future wil longer coms. surprise. And with that, the pro loses its inherent purpose, fr the project's author views the present.as something that has tobe over ‘come, abolished,or a east altered This is why he ‘she s00s no need to justify the project tothe pres- ‘ent, butit rather the prevent that should justify ‘set the future that has been areclaimed inthe project. tis prociely this pecious opportunity to ‘View the present from the future that makes the fe livadinthe project se entcingto ite authar—-and ‘that ultimately makes the project's completion so ‘upsetting. Hence, in the eyes a any author the mos ‘agreeable projects are those tat, rom ther very Inception, are never intenced tobe completed, sinc these maintain he gap between the future and the, present. These projectsarenever carried aut, never {generate an end result, nover bring about anal Broduct. But this by no means to say that auch ‘Unfinished, mpossibietoroalze projects are utterly ‘cluded from social representation, even f they o not rasynenronize withthe general rune things through some specific resut, successful: not. These projects ean, after al stllbe documented, ‘Sartreonce described the stat of “teing-n- the-project” as the ontological condition furan Axistence. According to Sartre, each personlives om the perspective ofan Individual future that necessarily romaine barred from the view efcth- fr In art's terms, this condition results inthe fadieal alienation of each individual. since averyone ‘se can only seethis individual os theresuitof hisorher personal circumstances, and never as Iahetorogencous projection fam these circum stances, Consequenty the heterogenecusparalle timoframa of tne project remsine elusive teany form of representation in the present. Hence for Sartre, tha projects tainted by the auspicion of escapiem, thedolibratsavoidanco of social communication tnd inividuatresponsbiity Soi eno surprise that he aleo describes the subject's ontological condition a a stato of-mauvais fo"orinancerity Andis for this reacon that the existential hare of Sartrean provenanceis perennially tempted toclose the gap batwoen the time this project andthat of the Social enviranment through aviolent“astion Airwct, thereby synchronizing both fram, only fora briet moment But while the heterogereous time ofthe project cannot be brought to acancll- sion tean, as previusly observed, be documented. ‘One cute even claim that artis nothing other ‘than the dacumentation and tepresentation of such project-based heterogeneous ime Whereas historcaly ths meant documenting divinahistory ‘sa projector world redemption, (els nowadays ‘out inaividual ane collective projects tordiverse futures. In any ase,art documentation now grants‘Tre Lavlness tte roet ail unrealized or unrealizable projects apace int present without foreingthem tobe either a succs bra failure. And Sartre's own writings could be con Sidered documentation ofthis kind as well Inthe past two decades the art project—in liew ofthe work of art—has without question mo ‘enter stage inthe art word's attention. Each fart project may presuppose the formulation ofa Specificaim and astratogy designed to achieve this ‘im butwe are most often denied the itera that ‘Would allow us to ascertain whether the project’ imhas or has nat been achieved, whether exces ‘sive time was required te complete the projector {ven whether the target is intrinsically unattainab {3 such, Ourattentionisthereby shifted away from the production ofa work including werkof atontolifein the at project—alife thats not primarily productive process, that is nat tailored: evelopinge product that not*reult-criented™ UUnder these terme, arti no longer understood as the production of works fart butas documenta the project—regardlss ofthe outcome atrotonger manfeste as aneter new Shjec for artomplation produced bythe rts, Eukas another hetrogenecustimarae fe project manic documented as hich ‘Anerkof art ietradonalty understood 0 tbo comatning that holy embod arent meray end pipe bie preence When vteotoanartexhbiton we gneraly assume hatevr thereon paypal Srainge photograpne done eacymaces. Srinstataoons” must bo art, the werkca of Shure atereferoncestotings hatter are fetcwnethertorel-norig objet orto certain fetieatasies, bet thay donetaludeto art tet because they themselves are art. However this rational assumption dining visit to eaniitions tnd museums has proven tobe progressively more Insleading. Besides works of art. in prosert-day art paces we are now increasingly confronted with the documentation of arin various guises Simitary, hereto we see pictures, drawings, photopaphs, videos, texts, and intalations—in other words, the Jame forme and media in whichis eammonly rosented, But art cannot be presented through these mecia, only documented. Forart documenta tions, by its very definition, na rt. Previa by Imorely referring toart,artdocumentation makes it (quteclaar tht no actual artis present ane visible, thutieratherabsentand hidden ‘Art documentation this signals the use of Artistic mediawithinare spaces to make diect foforence tw ite itetfto form of pure actvity or Pure praxis—indoed, to ife-in-thart-prject— Jot without wishingto represent that life drecty. ‘tis here traneformed into away fie, whereby tho erica artis turned into non-arttomere ‘documentation ofthis way off. To puttin citfor- fentterms, art now becomes bioplitieal, beauee thas Bogunte produce and document ifeteolf ae pureactivtyb/artistie means. Not only thet, but fr documentation as such could only have evolved Linder the conditions of our biopoitieal again which life tseithas became the object of technica and tstie creativity So we are once again faced with the question asto the relationship betwen ite fd art—but in anutteriy novel constellation char- fcterizee by the parade of artin the guleo ofthe far project, now also wantingto become lie, nstoad say. simply reproducing feo furnishing with frcobjects. But the question arses ae to what fertent documentation including art documentation,‘ean actually represent tel? ll documentation is generally Sus Jnoxorably usurping ife-For each act of document (remand archiving presuppesos acertain criteria (ith regardto ita conterts and citeumstances.to Values tat are aweye questionable, and neces arty remain so. Furthermore, the process of 2c weNingsomethingatwaye opens up acispaity Fenosn tnedocumentitelf and the documerted Monts a divergence tat ean neither be bridged Aoveraued. Sut even f wo manage to develop pescodure capeble ofreproducing life nits ensitety Pr ata autnenticity we would again ultimately up not with ie ee but with tes death mak, for iets the wory uniqueness fife that constitutes reiitatty ie for thireason that our culture mcsy Ie marked bya deep malaise with regard todos (entation andthe archive—and even by vociterous Trotest against the archive inthe name of fe The Pohwite and bureaucrats in charge of documents Ucn tte widely regarded asthe enemies oftve lif, Thringthe complation and administration of eae [ocoments over te direct experience offen sectcuay, the bureaucrat is viewed as an agent of Secreta onc parting wields the cnilingpower of docunente- eter {lento render life grey monotonous, unavent Ul thd bloodtese in aword,deathiike Similar, ance Ihe artisttoo becomesinvolved indocumentation, forshe runs the isk of being associated wth the orsaverat,and is consequently suspected of being anew agentot death ‘Mes tnow, however that the bureaueratic. documentation stored in archives doos not consi (Sley of recorded memories, butalzo includes rjeets ond plans aiectod nut at the past Eat tho future. These archives of projects corain rater life that have not yet taken place, Dut are ‘Tetaratnese oft Poet‘ThaLonanasct three perhaps meart to take place inthe future. And ‘wn biopaitica era this isa matter not of mera ‘making changes tothe fundamental conditions lite, but actively engaging inthe production Lifeiteelt While the term "bopaltos”is requ Understood to mean the scientific and technolo strategies of genetic manipulation thatthe with organizing ifeas an event, as pure activity Cccurringintime. From procreation and the sion of ifolong medical care tothe rogulation of balance between work and eleure ond medically uperviced(fnot medially induced) death, the ‘of each individual today is pormanently eubject “antificiat control and advancement. And precisa because lifes nolongor perceived as a primeval, ‘elementary event of being as fate or fortune, Fesultof time unvavolingon its own accord, but ‘S00n instead ae time that canbe artficialypro- ‘duved and formed, such aif can be documer landarehived before thas aven taken place, Indeed, ureaueratic and technological de ‘mentation serves asthe primary mecium of mod biopoltcs. The schedules, regulations, invest ‘oport, statistical surveys, and project outlines ‘that comprise thiskind of documentation gener ate new Ufe constantly. Even the genetic archive contained in every ving being can ultimately be Understood asa patof this cocumentation one that both documents the genetic structure of ‘us, obsolete organisms, butalso enables the sar genetic structure tobe interpreted asa blueprint ‘or ereatinguturetwing organisms. This means th ven the current state of biopoites, the archive ng longer allows ust differentiate between memory snyone resolve toundertake such reproduction. The chives the site wnere pastand futurebecome Imorchangeable. project, between past and future. Andinciden- iy his also offersaraticnal basis for what the sian tradition ha termed the reurrection — for what in polities and cultural domane is fis revival, For tha archiva of elapse formaong i i Comrades of Time 1 Contemporary art deserves its name insofar seit manifeate ts ann contemporanelty ane thisienot simply mattor of boing reconty made ‘or displayed. Tus, the question Wate contery- poraryartimplicates the question "What st ‘ontemporary How eanthe contemporary a8 such beshown? Being contemporary can be understood ae boingimmodiatoly present, as beinghere-and-now. sms to be uly contemporary ifitispercenedas being authenti, as being able tocapture and.express the presence ofthe pres font ina way thatie radically uncorrupted by past traditions or strategies aiming.at success inthe ‘ture, Meanwhile, however we are amar with ‘the citique of presence, especially as formulated bbyuacauies Darrda, wha has showin—convincingly ‘enough—that the present originally corrupted Dyast and future, that there always absence st the heartaf presence, and that history inclusing arthistory.cannot be interpreted, touse Derridais ‘expression, asa procession of presences” Father than further analyze the workings of Derria’s deconstruction Iwovldlike to take atop back and ask: What eit about the present—the here-and-now—thet eo interests us? Already Wittgonstein was highly ironical abouthis philo- sophieal colleagues who fom time totime suddenly ‘ured to contemplation ofthe present instead of contemplation ofthe present, of the immediatoly ven, isan unnatural eccupation dictated by the ‘metaphysical tradition, which ignores the flowot ‘verydaylfe—the flow that always overflowe the prasent without privileging tin any way. According: 5 i 3 ‘toWittgenstein the interest nthe prosont is simply & philosophicaland maybe slooartistic—<éfor- mation professionnel, metaphysical sickne that ohould be cured by philosophicatertique.* “Tat is why ind thefellowing question cepecaly relevant for our prosant discussion: Hom ‘does the procont manifest tseltin our everyday ‘experienea—boforitbogine to bearmattar of tmataphysical speculation or philosophical rtique? Now seems tome thatthe presents intially something that nindars ue nour realization bf everyday (ornan-everyday) projects, something ‘hat prevent our smoot ransition from the past tothe future, somsthingthat obstructs Us, makes burhopes and plans become not opportune, Not up to-date, orsimply mpossibie torealiz. Time and fagein, wa are obliged to sa):¥es, isa good project bitat the momant we have na money, time. no ‘energyandlso fort, to realize tO This tradition ise wonderful one, but atthe moment thereis no Interest in tand nobody wants to continueit. Or ‘hisutopiais beautiful but unfortunately, today no ‘one believes utopias, nd soon.The presents a ‘moment in time when we decide to lower our expec~ ‘ations of to future ort abandon some ofthe deer traditions ofthe past in order to passthrough the arrow gato of the here-and-now. mst unger famously said that modernity — the time of projects and plans, parexcellonce— {aught usto revel ith ight aggoge Umit leichtom [Sepa inorrn o mawe further dovin the nao path ofthe present, modernity shed all that seme foo heavy too loaded with meaning, mimeci, traditional eriteria of maatory inherited ethical {ind aesthetic conventions, and a forth. Modorn Feductioniom isa stratogy for surviving the dificult Journey through tho present Ov, terature, musi, and philosophy have survived the twentieth century because they threw out allunnecessary baggage. At the sametime, these radical reductions also reveal kindof hidden uth tna transcends heir immed atecffectiveress. Theyshow that one can give Up great deal—traditons, nopes, sls, and ide nd stilcontinue one's project inthis reduced form. ‘This truth algo mage the modernist eduction tran culturally eficient—crossing a cultural orders ‘nmany ways ke crossingthe imi of the present. “Thus, during the period of modernity the power ofthe present could be detected only Inivectly through the traces of reduction ett on the body ofartand, more generally.on the body of cultura The present as such was mostly seen inthe context of modernity as something nega- tivejas something thet shouldbe overcome inthe name of te future, something that slows down the realzation of ou project, something that delays the coming ofthe Future. Gne of the slogans ofthe Soviet ra was "Time, forward! and Petrov, to Soviet novelists ofthe 1920s, aptly parodied this ‘adorn feling withthe slogan Comrades sleep faster! Indood, in those times one actualy would have proferredto sleep through the present—tofall asleopin the pastand to wake up atthe endpoint of progress aftr the arrival ofthe racant future, 2 Butwhen we begin to question our projects, todaubt reformulate ther, the present, the con- tomporary becomes imprtar, even eentral for Ut. This 's Because the contemporatyie actually consti= {uted by doubt hesitation, uncertainty indecision— bytheneeafor prolonged reftection, fora delay \Wo want to postpone our decisions and actions in ‘order te have more time for analyst, refietion, and pleresthe procossof prolatarizing work that began [ntveninateentn century. The art nare become ‘an aionated worker netferent than any ther in ortemparary production processes. Butthena question arises, What happened tothe artevs body when the abor of art production became alienated abor?The answer is simple:the artists body itself became a eadymace. Foucault has already drawn our attention tothe fact that lenated work produces the worker's body along fda the industrial products;the worker's bodys ‘istipiined and simultaneously exposed to external surveillance, a phenomenon famously character- fned by Foucault as panapticiem™ As aresult, tis alanatedindustrat work cannot be understood Solin terms ofits external productwvity—it mast ‘eeessaily take into account the fact that this work flo produces the worker's own body as reliable gadget, as an abjectified" instrument of alenated, ‘industrialized work An this ean even be seen a ‘themain achievement of modernity. as these mad= m0 ‘Seemingly rothing materials produced beyond ‘thege bodies themselves. One can naw arguo that t Ispreclaely this moderrized, updated working body ‘thet contemporary art uses asa readymade. How= trertheconterperary artist dees net need t ontor factory or adminiorative fica to fing euch a body.Maneater Duchamp or Th Att Tr asin potty ‘Under the current conditions of alienated arts worteartatwil id such body ay Indeed, in performance art, video, phot raphy and sofrth the artist's body increasing became te focus af contemporary atin ecent decades. Andone can say that the artist today become increasingly concerned with the expasu of hisorher body a a working body-—through th {gaze ofa spectator ora camerathat recreates the anoptic exposure to which working bodies ina factory or effice are submitted. An example ofthe ‘expesire oF auch a working body can be found in ‘Marina Abramovie'sexhiten “The Artist I Pre ‘ont"at MoMA in Now Yorkin 2010, Each day oft ‘oxhibiton, Abramovis at throughout the working hour ofthe museum in Mole atrium, mainini ‘the same pose. Inthis way, Abramovie recreated the stuation ofan afice worker whose primary tobe observed by his orher superiors, roger ofwhatis done beyond that. Ana we can ay that Aramovie’s performance was perfect lustration of Foucault's notion thatthe production ofthe work Ing boay ie the main effect of modernized, alienated Work Precisely by not actively performing any task throughout tne time she was present, Abramovis ‘hematized the incredible discipline, endurance, and physical efor required to simply remain ‘ent ata workplace tom the beginning ofthe work Ingday tits end. tthe sametime, Abramov’: body was subjected tothe same regime of exposure as allof MoMA artworks-—hanging onthe wallsor Staying nthetr places throughout the working hours ‘ofthe museum And ust as we generally assume that tive pangs wd seutptures do mot change places or disappear when they are notexposedo, the Jisitr’s gaze or when the musoum i cloced, we {ers toimagine tht Abramovi'e immobilized body vellremain foreverin the museum immortalized longside the museum's other works. Inthis sense, "ipa rit Ie Procant” creates an image of living corpaeas the only perspective on immortality that burehilizationie capable of offeringits citizens. “The effect of immortality is only strengthened bythe fact that this performance sa recreation! jon ofa performance Abramov with Uay In er young years, n which they sat opposite fash other frraughaut the workinghours of an ex ban space. In-The artists Present, Ulays place bofotite Abramov could be taken by any visio ‘hs substitution demonstrated how the working bocy of the artet disconnects—through theatien- tedtabstract character of modern work—from fisor herown natural, mortal body The working body ofthe artist can be substituted with any other body that ready and abieto perform the same work of set-exposure Thus, in the main, etrospec- {ie par ofthe exhibition, the earlor performances byAbramovicand Ulay were repeated/reproduced in ‘wo different forms:through video documentation nd through the naked bodies of hired actors, Here ‘ain the nakecness ofthese bodies was more Itmportan than thelr particular shape, or even their {ender none instance, due to practical consider- Stone, Ulay was represented by awoman). There are ‘many who speak about the spectacular nature. ‘ontamporary art Butina certain senee,contem- porary arteffectuates the reversalofthe spectacle foundin theater or cinema, among other examples. Inthe theater the actor's body also prosents itself fasimmortal as it passes through various metamor- pit procestes, eanstormingtalfinto tne bodies ‘fothere ae plays differant oes. n contemporaryarythe workingbady ofthe att onthe contrary, Ascumulates differant ros (asin the cazeof Cindy Sterman)o.as with Abramovieetferent living bediae. The artist's working body is simultaneously ‘identical and interonangeablo because tie ody ofalonated, abstract Inbar n his famous ook The king's Two odie: & Study in Medioovel Palica! meoiogy Ernst Kantorowiczilustates the historical probiem posed by the tgureof tha king assumingtwo bodies simultaneously:one natural, mmortalbody. ane another oficial, institutional, ‘exchangeable, immortal body. Analogously, one can Say that nen the artist exposes his or her body, t 5 the second, working body that becomes exposed, Andat the moment of tis exposure, this working body also reveals the valu of labor accumulated inche at institution (according to Kantorowiez, ‘madieval historians have spoken of corporations? Ingoneral, when visting amuseum, we do not real ize the amount of work necessary to keep paintings hangingon walls orstatues in their places. ut this effort becomes immediately visible when evistor isconfronted with Abramovi's body: the invisible physical effort of keepingthe human bodyin the Same position foralongtime produces ating” — aradymade—that arrest the attention of visitors andallowe them to contemplate Abramov’ body fornoure. ‘Gre may think that ony the working bodies of contemporary celebritias are oxpooedto the p Howavar, oven the most average, arma ‘everyday poopie now permanently cocument their ‘own working bodies by moane of photography, ‘io, websites, and 9 forth And on top ofthat, contemporary everyday lf is exposed net only to Inettutonal guneilance, But alsoto aconstenty ‘expanding sphereof media coverage Inmumerable\ sitcoms inundatig teloision screens around the vrordexpose ust the workingtbodies of doctor, eosonts,ishermen,preident, move stare, factory worker, mafia irs, pravediggee, and vento zombies ondvempir it iapretoly this “vgulty end universality ofthe working Body and representation that makes especial treating forertEvenifthe primary natural dle of our Contemporaries erent ang thelr secondary vrorking oodles areinterehangeable An tl pre= ‘Seay this rterchangoabity that unites te arat ‘nth sor heraudlonce The arttodey shares rtwith the publiejustashe or sha nce sherad't ‘ritnreligonr poities Te be anartt has cossod Religion in the Age of Digital Tobe anexcisie fats inteoathae becom Reproduction charectenticof society ee hoe anita most intimate, evenday, body ove. And hore the artist. finds another opportunity fo advance auriverealst Caimevasaninoigeintthe duly andambigue ityortne artists own two bodes. ere AterOvchanpcrThe Actes Tro Bos aa oyegan inne Ast ig Repreducten 136/168 serve consensus of contemporary mass radia s that the return of eligion has emerged ‘5 the mest important factor in global polities and ulture ted. Now, those whe currently referto a revival of religion clear donot mean anything tke the second comingof the Messiah the appear- anceof new gods and prophets. What they are Fefercingto rath is that religious attitudes have ‘moved from culturally marginal zones into the malt ‘stream. If this isthecase, and statistics would seo tocorroborate the claim, the question then arses fas to what may have caused religious attitudes to ‘become mainstream “The survival and dissemination of opinions onthe global information market i eulated by ‘law formulated by Charles Darwin, namely, the survvalof the fiteet. Thoee opinions that Beat fadapt tothe concitions under which they are dis- seminated wil, av amettor of course, have the bt (dds of becoming mainstream. Today's opinions ‘marke, however is clearly characterized by ropro- ‘duction, repetition and tautalogy The widespread Understanding of contemporary elvilleation holds ‘hat, over the course of te madern age theology hhas been replaced by philasophy, an orientation ‘toward the past ey an orientation toward the future traditional teachings by eubjectve evidence, ‘idality to orgina by innovation, and ao on Infact, however, the modern age has not been the agein \which the aacredhe been abolishes but rathor ‘the age afte dissemination in profane apace, its democratization te globalization Fitual,ropeti- ‘von, and reproduction were itherte matiers of Fpreduction have become the fate ofthe entire ‘world of the entire culture. Everything ropreduces itselt—capital,commesltig, technology. ane at. LUttimataly even progres is reproductive! consists ina constantiy repeated destruction of everything that cannet berepreduced quickly and effectively Under such conditions it should came as no surprise that eligion—in alts various mantfestations—nas become increasingly successful Religion operates through media channels that are, rom the outset, products of the extension and secularization of traditional religious practices. Let usnow turn ‘oan investigation of some ofthe aspects ofthis txtension and secularization that seem especlally Felevant tothe survival and success of religions in thecontemporary word {The internet and the Freedom of Fath The regime under wtih religion—ary raligion-—functions in contemporary Western ‘Sectlar democratic societis is freedom of faith, Freedomof faith means tha allarefrea to believe what they choose tobeleveand tha all are foe to Srganize their personal and private lives according, tothesebelefs.Atthe same time, however this also means that the imposition of one’s own faith on athersin publ life and state institutions, inclucing atheismas form of faith, cannot be tolerated. The Significance of the Enlightenment thatitresulteginthe complete cl religion, but that religion became. matter of private Choice, which then resulted inthe withdrawal of ‘eligion into the private sphere. In the contemporary ‘word raligionhas become a matter of private taste, unetion ng inmuch the sameway 9¢ do art and design- Naturally. this irot to suggest that ‘eligionis preciuded in public discussion. However, ‘the lace of religion in relation te public discussion isreminiscent of the place of art as outlined byImmanuel Kant in The Critique of Judgment religion ‘may be publicly discussed, but such discussion ‘cannot result inany conalusion that would become Saligatoryelther forthe participants ofthis discus ‘ion or for society as awhole, Commitment to one Feligous faith ox anothers amatter of sovereign, private chai uthority—including any democratically tegitimiag ‘uthorty Even more importantly, such a decision— ‘as inthe case of at—need not be publicly argued and lgttimized, but rather publicly accepted with- tut further discussion. The legitimacy of personal faithis based not onthe degree ofits power of per- ‘asin, but on the soveraign right of theindividual tobe committed this faith inthis respec, freedom of faiths fundamen= tally ifferent from, ets say the kindof freedom Feprecentedin sclentfic research, Inthe contextof ‘scientifledlecussion every opinion can be argued for or against, but each opinion mustalso be sub~ “Stantiated by certain facts end verified according fived ule, Every participant in uch adiscussion isundoubtedl fee-—at least theoretically —to fo ‘mulatshis o her position an to argue ints favor. However, one may nt insist on a scientific opinion ‘hats not subjet ta justification, and that would Contravene all proofand evidence tothe contrary mt that would othe sein the Age tat Rapaductan Such blindness tomard the fects, to logic and coms ‘mon senae, would be regarded as bordering onthe insane. f someone wereto refer this sovereign ‘ight toinsiet ona certain acientific opinion withoy being able to legitimize this insistence by rational argument, he or ahe would be excluded from the Scientific community. eotsarys that eannot be dictated by any public What this means is that our contemporary, ‘Western notin o freedom ie deeply ambiguous, Infact, dizeouree on Freecom alway’ pivots.on two ‘aclealtypesf freedom: an unconditional freedom of faith, that aovoreign freedom permitting usto ‘make personal choices beyondal pubic explana tion andjustificaton, and the conditional, neti tional freedom of scientific opinion, which depends ‘onthe subject's ability to justfyandlgitimize tis ‘pinion in accordance wth pro-detarmined, publicly ‘established rus, Thus, tis eaay ta show that cur notion of democratic, row gocity i laa ambigy ‘us. The contemporary nation of poitiealfreadom, ‘canbe ntarpoted in parkas eovereig,m part a institutional in partas the sovereign freedom of political commitment, anc inpart as te institu- tional freedom of political isevssion But whatover ‘may be said about the contemporary globel political field in oneral,one thing remaine contain: thie fields becoming increasingly influenced, a even ‘fined by the internet ast primary medium Of global communication. And the nternet favare Private, unconditional, coveroign freedom over Scientia, conditional, institutional freedom. Inan earierage of mass madia-—newepa- pers rac or TV—the only poseibie assurance of freedom of opinion was an institutionally euar- “antec free access to this media. An diaauesion ‘evolving around freedom af opinion, therefore, Centered onthe plitis of rapresentation, onthe {question as towho and what shouldbe included, {and who and what should be exeludad fom atan- ard nows coverage and public paitial discussion. “odayallaretroe to create their own websites uithout the need or discussion and logitimizatin, Freedom of opinion as practiced onthe internet, funetions asthe sovereign freedem of privatecommitment: nethar asthe institutional freedom: rational discussion, noras tha poltcs of ropresar {ation incision and exclusion. What we experienc todays the immense privatization of puble medi space through the internet private conversation ‘between MySpace and YouTubetoday substitutes forthe public discussion ofthe previous age.The slogan of the previous age wae, "The private is political” whereas the tuo slogan cf the intrnet "Te political private: ‘Obviously, this new configuration ofthe m field favors religion over science, and sovereign raligious polities over intitutionalized secular politics. The internet is the space in whichitis possible for contemparary, aggressive raliious ‘movernents to install ther propaganda materia a {toactglobally—without recourse to any insituto {or representation, or application to any authority {or tei ecognitcn. Theinternet provides these ‘movements with the means to operate beyond any discursivaly obtained tgtimacy and with full sovereignty. In this sense, the contemporary retu Of religion can be seen asthe return af sovereign freedom after many decades ar even centuries of ‘the dominance of nactutianal freedom, 7 ‘Accordingly.the surge neligion may aleo be directly connected tothe growing. overeign, ‘reedom of private consumption and eapitali ‘menton a global seals Both are dependent on Intenet an other digital communieations medi ‘hat transgress the borders of national democr institutions. n any ease, botn practicns—ralig {and economic— presuppose the functioning of media universe as an arena for private, sovereign acteand decisions. There's, moreover ane fu significant similarity between capital investment andreligious commitment: both operat rough eter init pt Reproduction language, though, at the language where language means sol explanation,juetfieaton, and, legitimization 2 Religious Ritualand Mechanical Reproduction Religion isoften understood to be acertain sotof opinions, ascooiated with whether contra option should be permittad or whether women ‘Should wear hadsoarves.|would argue, however, ‘that eigion—any raligion—Is nota sot of opinions butprimariy a set of ritual, ana thatthe raigious ritual refers to a statsin which there a lack ‘opinions, a stato of oinionlessness—a-daxe—for itrofers te thowil ofthe gods or of God ultimately concealed from the opinions of mrtale. Religious language is tre language af rapetition, not becaus its subjects insist on any specific truth they wish to repeatedly assert and communicate. Hor, language Isembedded inital. Ang ritual isa re-enactment ofthe revelation of truth ultimately impossible ‘ocammunicate, Repetition af certain religious ritual celebrates tne encounter with such an incom- ‘municabe truth, the acceptance of this tuth, boing answerable to Goes ove, and maintaining devotion tothe mystery of ovelation Religious discourse praises God, and prataes Godin such away ae is upposed te please God, Religious discourse oper- tas notin the opposition between trathand error, ‘scientific discourse does, but inthe cppesition between devotion and blaspnemy. Theritual, as such, ls neither true, nor false. Inthis senseit marks the zero pointof freedom of ‘pinion thats, eed from any kind af opinion, ‘tom the obligation ohave an opinion eligousrit= uslzanerepeatod, abandoned, ormodifiaa—butnotlegitimized, criticized, or refuted. Accord ‘thofundamentalictieepareon who insiote not much onacertin set of opinions as on certain ‘tuale not being abandoned or modified, ond faithfully and correctly reproduced. The tue fu ‘montalist doesnot care about fidelity tothe Dutabout the correctness ofa tual, not about ‘hooretical. or eather, theological interpretation ‘the lth, but about the material form ofreligion Now if we consider those religous move ments eepecialy active today we observe that fare predominantly fundamentallt movements tionally, we tond to etinguish between two ki cf rpatition: (1) repetition ofthe epntanc in api that, repetition ofthe true, innereseence ofa raligious message, and 2} repetition ofthe exter formofa religious rtual. The opposition between ‘hase two typesof ropatition —between living apt and ead lttor—informe all Western discouree ton roligion,Thefirstkind of repetition almost slay regarded astro ropatition a& the authont "nner" continuation af aaligious tradition the ‘continuation that preeuppotes the possibility oF ‘arupture withthe mers external, conventional, historically accidental form of ths tradition ore requir such arupture.Accordingto this epnitu IstInterpretation of tho religious tradition, the Falgloninth ev ot Dita Repradction ‘external, material form of tis message othe ‘changing historical milous and contexts without betraying the inner ruth of this messago.A religious ‘vacition capable of raneforming and adapting tool to changing circumstances without losingite Inner, escantial entity ie usually praised ae avr Spinal pawerol traction capable of maintaining Revitalty nd historical relevance. On the other arse hand, “superficial” adherence to the more letter to the external form ofraligion, tothe empty" ritual tz arule, regarded as symatom thereligionin question lacks vitality, and even a betrayal of tho innertrath ofthe tradition by the purely mechanical reproduction of ts external, dead form, Now thie precisely what fundamentalism is, rnamay.the insietence on theletter as opposed to the spit ipofthe fact that Its for this reason that rligious funda: smontalism has alwaye possessed arovolutionary imension: whit breaking with the paities of sini, ‘that, with the polis of reform, flexibly, and !aptation tothe zetgpet it goes onto substitute forthispoitice ofepint theviolent palics of he letter Thue, contemporary elglousfundamental- iemmay be rogarded asthe most radical product bf the European Enlightenment andthe materialist ‘iow ofthe world. Religious fundamentalism is ‘elgionatorthe death oftho spirit after the loss initvality. Should the spin perehallthat the eter, the materi form, the ritual jontin the material word. nether words, {itferencain the material form retigioncan no longer be compensated by identity in spirit. ‘upture withthe external frm ofthe ritual cannot be compensated by the inner, spiritual fidelity tothe ‘aligioustnth, A materialaference snow usta Stferonce—-therai no essence, no being, andno searing underying such a formal aifference at a ‘oopor\ovl. inthis sense, fundamentalist religious ‘movements are religions after deconstruction. It moaning, sense, ane intention cannot be stabilized, the only possiblity for authentic repetition stiterl Fepstition,mechenica reproductian—Beyond fy apinion, meaning, sense, and intention stam ‘would bean expecially good easein paint Whileegos inthe Agot Dipl epraducton Persone notoriously forbiding the production of meges, Fdooe nt forbis tho e-produection and the use of ‘slready exitingimages-especally inthe case ‘sorcalled *mochanicaly produced” images, such photography or im, Nrvleit hae meanvile boca bana to eay that llam isnot medern, tis obvious post-modern. Book Difference and Repetition, Gilles haf teal repetition as boing ra cally artificial and, inthis sense, as being in conf ‘nth everything natural, ving, changing, and dove ‘ping, including natura law end morallaw: Hence, practicing literal repetition canbe seen aa iia [Srupture intho continuity fife. In hiremarks ‘onthe philosophy ofhistory Walter Benjamin alsa ‘Sesorbes the gonuine revolution as a break with ‘the continuity ahistorical evolution, asa literal repetition ofthe pact inthe midst ofthe present. fo refers tocaptaiam as anew kind religion reduced to ritual and so deveid of any theology. petition, however, not oly a revelstion classhac pornos theapettine nated oe mgiteontuel nok mtbocortet otros (mal caon saan, cara feces noerete often ‘hentetncontuen werner sn ttstaoran Sisavenbosinansottne create spor henge roma pfone pect oosaesct Santabtnpiotpeotend repose Neon et the eternal return ofthe same—as being the only poseible way to think immortality after the death of sir, of God, Here, theference between the ‘epettivoness of religious ituel and the literal ‘reproduction of the world of appearances disep~ ears, One might say that religious rituals the prototype ofthe mechanical repreduction that dom- nated Western culture during the modern periae, tnd which to acertain dogree, continues to domi- nate the contemporary wert. What this suggests is ‘that mechaniesl reproduction might, ints tun, be understecd as areliglous ital Ite for thie reason ‘that fundamentalist religious movements have bocome go sucessfuinourtime, for they combine ligious ritual with mechanical reproduction. For Walter Benjamin, of course, mechanical ‘production entails the lossof aura, thelose of ‘aligious experince, which he understands.as the texperience of uniqueness. He describes the rel {)0u8 experience as, ona might ay, a unique spr ‘ual experience. In this respect, his evecaton of the ‘xporienco of being enchanted by analian tan: sn example an authentisaxperence ff happiness, fullness, andthe intensity of life lost in ‘the reproduction process is particulary cheracter~ iste. But, one might argue true religious experience ieactualy the oxporionco of daath rather than ‘xperionce af life the experience of deathin the ‘miestof ie. Hone, preciely beosuse mechanical ‘opreduection may ba understood ae the lifeless rep- tition ofthe dead maga, itcan alco be interpreted ‘a8. source of the try religious experience. In ‘act, its pracieoly haloes of aura tna represents ‘tho moct radical religous experience under the conditions of modornity, sineoit isin thi wey that ahuman being discovers the mechanical, machineik, repetitive, ceproductive and,one might even iy dead aspect of his own existence 3.TheDigtatized Religion However, a8 mentioned above, the new religious moverants operate primarily through the & _Intemat, by means of digital rather than mechani= {alreproduction During thelast decades, video has becomethe chosen medium of contemporary Fatigious propaganda ands distributed through dif ferent TV channels, th internet, commercial video ‘stores. ete, This'sespecially inthe case ofthe most recent ative, and even aggressive religious ‘movements. The phenomenon a suicide-bomber Confession videos and many other kinds of video prodution reflecting the mentality of radical slam have meananile become fariliar tous. On the other hand the new evangelical movements also operate twth the same mediumf video If one asks those ‘eeponsibiafor public relations in these movement tt provide information, ores initilly sent videos ‘Thisuse ofthe video as the major medium of sel presentation among different religious movements ‘sarelativety new phenomenon. Traditionally, the ‘standard madium was.a script, «book, paintes “mage or sculpture. The question then arises ast ‘nat constitutes the fference between mechoni~ al and digital eproduction ang how this iference fattects the fate of religion in our age ‘ACthis point, would argue that the use of video as the principle medium by contemporary Feligous movementsisinvinsicto the message ofthese movements. Neitherisitexternal tothe Understanding of the reliious.as such, which Underias this use. Thisisnot to suggest, folowing Marshall MoLuhan,that here the medium ithe message: rather, I would argue thatthe message has wien tne sor tat Repradicton ‘become the medium—acertain religious message has become the digital code ‘Digital images have the propensity to gonor= ate, to mutiny and tocateibtetnemsalves almost “anonymously through the apen fields of eontempo- rary communication. The orginof these messages iseitfcut, or ven impossible, to locate, much ike thecriginof dine religious messages. At the samme timo digtalization seams to guarantee aitoral ‘eproduction ofa text or an image more effectively ‘han any other known technique. Natualy.it is not “so much te digital image itself asthe imag file, the digtal data which remains identical through the prosete of ts reproduction ana distribution. Homover, the image ile isnt an image—the mage filets invsibie, The digital mageis an effect of the vigualiztion ofthe invisible image il, ofthe invis= ible digital data. Only the protagonists ofthe movie ‘The Matric (996) were able to see tho image les, the digital code as such The average spectator, however,does nat have the magic that would ‘low him or her ike the protagonists of The Matix, ‘enter the invaiblespace otherwise concealed behind the digital image forthe purposes of directly ‘confronting the digftal data itself And such a Spectator ie notin command af the technique that ‘noUid enablehim er hero transfer the gal data ‘ivecty into the brain and toexperience it inthe ‘mode of pure, nen-vaualizabe suffering as. could the pretaganist at another movi, Johnny Memenic (7968), etualy, pure sutferingie. as we kNoM, the mast adequate experience f the invisible) Digital data should be visualized, should become ‘animage that can be soon, Herewe havea situation ‘anerein the perennial spirit/mater dichotomy} reinterpreted nea aichotomy between digital Sanaitsuisualization, or “immaterial informatioFaligointhe gp of Digs Reproduction and“materal"image, including visible tex In mor tormeithe digital fle functions as an ible messenger tranamiting {divine command, But a human beingremaine ‘xterra to this message, to this command, andthus condemned te contomplate only its vieval offocts, Weare confronted herewith the transposition of

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